Hello, everyone! This is a day late but yesterday was one of my busiest Sundays having so many things needed to get done in the Church. I am so happy to say that I survived the day and everything went great! Thanks be to God! Christmas and New Year are just around the corner and as the days come by so quickly, my family had to face/will be facing another transition in life. It's not always easy to accept when we get news that we know would affect our future. If you know me at all, my usual reactions would be worry, stress or panic. Sometimes, we can be so comfortable in life that a change or possibility of change throws us in a curve. I've experienced in my lifetime many forks in the road, which should make me a pro but no, I still feel like a rookie at times. On the other hand, if there's one important thing I learned from God's Word (through Bible class studies and life experiences) was Jesus' Word in Matthew 6:31-34 which instructed us, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." In these verses, did Jesus tell us to worry about certain things?----Not at all! His exact words said, "Do not worry about "ANYTHING!" This includes every facets of our being---physical (health), finances, family, other relationships and the list goes on. Philippians 4:19 declares, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."I believe Jesus had to warn us about the ill effects of worrying because it can damage our health, make the object of our worry dominate our thoughts and will affect our work's efficiency and productivity. Furthermore, worry steals our peace of mind (affecting how we interact with other people) and cause us to doubt God's promises leading to distrusting Him in our lives. As we face life's toughest situations, we are free to make a decision! We can either cooperate with God by giving Him all our worries and follow His lead or try everything humanly possible (out of our own effort) to get results. I would not say that allowing God to have full control of my situations is easy all the time. Oftentimes, I have to come against my own will (which eagerly wants to get immediate results instead of patiently waiting for the Lord's time) and place it under submission to the will of the Holy Spirit living inside of me. It's a constant battle inside my mind, in fact! But in my current situation, I made my decision! That is, I will wait for the Lord's revelation and act accordingly to His direction. I will make a conscious choice to rid myself of any worry and put my full trust in the Lord. After all, He gave me His word of assurance in John 14:27 which says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you
as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid." Are you facing trials in your life today? Know that when we have the Lord Jesus in our hearts and enjoys a personal relationship with Him (Born-Again, John 3:3), we are not alone in our struggles. Jesus paid the price for our freedom from the bondage of sin and death through the Cross and sealed the victory through His resurrection. If He willingly gave His life for our eternal salvation, how much more will He not give what we need here on earth? TRUST IN THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR YOU! He first loved me (When I was unlovable) and He taught me how to love....Hence, I can now love and trust Him back! I want to share these scriptures to encourage you to fix your eyes upon Jesus regardless of your circumstances:
"I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my
righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)
Anyway, I would love to share with you my project for our Anything Goes Challenge (No Twist) this week at 613 Avenue Create. For these gift card holders, I used three of the wonderful images from The Paper Shelter (one of our sponsors this week) namely "In the 20's, The Turkey is Ready and Adorable Ms. Hall. I colored them with my ProMarker/Prismacolor/Sharpie markers. I had some difficulty coloring since the images were printed really small to fit the size of the gift card holders which is 3.5 x 2.5 inches. It was a lot of challenge to stay in the lines as the markers brush are not too pointy...LOL I am thankful for the Lord's help in every way! I selected some gorgeous DP's from K & Company for my gift card holder base. I then cut, score and fold these DP's to form the gift card. I went through my scraps to find wonderful DP's to compliment the base DP's of each gift cards and mat them with white and Kraft CS. I made some tags and stamped it with a See D's stamp and I attached some ribbon. I incorporated some sentiments from Studio G and Technique Tuesday clear stamps. Finally, I tied a bow to secure the gift card. The thing I love about this design is that I can include a personalized message which can make a gift card even more special. I love making this though it can be time consuming but they are like mini cards that is oh so cute and versatile. Hope you like them.
ALL OCCASION GIFT CARD HOLDERS:
ALL OCCASION GIFT CARD HOLDERS LAYERS:
ALL OCCASION GIFT CARD HOLDERS INSIDE INSERTS:
ALL OCCASION GIFT CARD HOLDERS INSERTS FOR GC AND PERSONAL MESSAGE:
SHOWING GIFT CARD AND NOTE TAG SHOWING BACK VIEW:
This Project is entered into the following Challenges:
Crafting by Designs---Wrap It Up (Way to wrap my gift cards)
Crafty Creations---ATG
Digistamps4Joy---ATG
Divas by Design---ATG
The Paper Shelter---ATG
Stamp n Doodle---ATG
Stamping Chef---ATG
Make It Monday---ATG
Challenges 4 Everybody---ATG
Digi Darla---ATG
Crafty Girls---ATG
Craftitude---ATG/Christmas Sparkle
Crafts 4 Eternity---ATG
Color Me Creative---Holiday Themed
Hobby Cutz---ATG
OSAAT---ATG
Craft Place---ATG
Anonymous Stamps---ATG
Artistic Inspirations---ATG
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Digi Makeover---ATG
Melonheadz Friends---ATG
Bearly Mine---ATG
LEJ Designs---ATG
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG/Optional Christmas
Crafting by Designs---Wrap It Up (Way to wrap my gift cards)
Crafty Creations---ATG
Digistamps4Joy---ATG
Divas by Design---ATG
The Paper Shelter---ATG
Stamp n Doodle---ATG
Stamping Chef---ATG
Make It Monday---ATG
Challenges 4 Everybody---ATG
Digi Darla---ATG
Crafty Girls---ATG
Craftitude---ATG/Christmas Sparkle
Crafts 4 Eternity---ATG
Color Me Creative---Holiday Themed
Hobby Cutz---ATG
OSAAT---ATG
Craft Place---ATG
Anonymous Stamps---ATG
Artistic Inspirations---ATG
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Digi Makeover---ATG
Melonheadz Friends---ATG
Bearly Mine---ATG
LEJ Designs---ATG
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG/Optional Christmas
This is all for now, dear friends! Be sure to visit our neighborhood---613 Avenue Create and join us for our very easy Challenge this week---Anything Goes! I can't wait to see what you come up with. Wonderful prizes awaits our winners. God bless y'all and have an awesome week!
These are such wonderful gift ideas.
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your loved ones a blessed Christmas.
Hugs
Desíre
{Doing Life – my personal blog}
Jo Ann - these are absolutely darling! What great gifts they make! The recipients are gonna LOVE them!
ReplyDelete~ginny g
RubberMAD
The verse from Philippians 4 is one of my favorites! Dropping by this Christmas morning to say, may the blessings of this Christmas season be yours throughout the coming new year!!! Happy creating!
ReplyDeleteWonderful cards, exquisite!
ReplyDeleteSearching for beauty and find hope
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014! Hugs from Spain. Leovi.
Fantastic idea. Love them. Thanks for joining us at Melonheadz Friends.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely gift card holders. I particularly like the inclusion of the tag to write a personal message. Good luck in our extended challenge. Ingrid xx ( OSAAT Team )
ReplyDeleteFabulous hun - love them - thank you for playing along at Crafting from The Heart x
ReplyDeleteLovely gift card holders Thanks for joining us at crafts 4 Eternity this week hugs x
ReplyDeleteWhat a great set of gift card holders - love the images you chosen and the extra depth you've given the holders. Thanks for joining the Crafting From The Heart Challenge, hope to see you again soon.
ReplyDeleteVictoria DT
what beautiful card holders AJ.
ReplyDeleteThanks for join us at
{Digistamps4Joy DT Member}
Karin
and
Thanks for join us at ScrapbookStampSociety Challenge.
Greetings Karin DT Coördinator
Lovely project. Thanks for joining us at the Crafty Girls Challenge. Happy holidays Angelie
ReplyDeleteSuch great gift tags thankyou for joining our challenge at craftitude good luck fiona dt. x
ReplyDeleteSo pretty Thank you for joining us at Crafting from the hearts third challenge good luck best wishes from Sharon DT member see you next time xxx
ReplyDeleteSuper cute card holders! I love them! Thanks for joining us at Craftitude.
ReplyDeleteThey are fantastic. Love the way you made them. I will remember me because I also need some over the year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Anonymous Stamps.
xxx Michelle (DT)
Love your card, it's beautiful! Thanks for joining in with our challenge at that craft place! Happy holidays Carlyann x
ReplyDeleteI love your gift card holders Jo Ann...great images and fabulous colouring..
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us at Make it Monday..
Luv CHRISSYxx
Fabulous creations :) Thanks for joining us at TPS. Joey x
ReplyDeleteLook at all these cute gift card holders!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Digi Darla’s
Wow, that is a really cute idea for gift cards. I will have to give this a try. Thank you for playing along this week at OSAAT. I sure hope to see you back again very soon. Good Luck in the challenge!!!
ReplyDeleteTTFN,
CraftyGirl OSAAT DT
craftygirlcardsandcrafts.blogspot.com
Love these gift card holders! Always looking for new ideas in this area, and these are perfect!! Thanks for joining us at Digi Makeover!
ReplyDelete<3 Emily L.-DT
These are fab I love them, great creations
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us this week over at LEJ Designs challenge blog.
Good Luck with the challenge and Happy New Year
Hugs
Marie (DT for LEJ Designs)
xxxx
Brilliant idea love the gift card holders,great images and B.papers -thanks for joining us at OSAAT
ReplyDeleteCarol DT x
What a lovely project...thanks for playing with Melonheadz Friends!
ReplyDeletexxx Margreet
Gorgeous, wonderful idea. Thanks for playing along @ OSAAT.
ReplyDeleteLisa DT
Great project with such lovely images and colours. Thanks for joining in with the Artistic Inspirations Challenge. Happy New Year! Suz xx
ReplyDeleteGreat Holiday creation, thanks for joining CMC Holiday challenge. DT Shannon
ReplyDeleteOhhh. I think this is so stinking cute. I love them all. Will try this out. Thanks for joining us at the Stamping Chef.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Christine Garner
Very pretty cards. Thanks for joining us at Crafty Creations,
ReplyDeletehugs
Sabine
Fabulous job xx thank you for taking part in the anything goes challenge over at Hobbycutz Challenges xxx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful giftcard holders you designed! =)
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Digistamps4Joy!
Hugs, Elenor DT
Love your gift card holders. Great coloring! Thanks for joining us this week at Stamp n Doodle!
ReplyDeleteHello again.. smiles..
ReplyDeleteAgain you have created masterpieces..
Thank you so much for joining us at The Stamping Chef and Good Luck!
Hugs,
Karen.DT.xx
www.kraftykarensblogspot.co.uk/wordpress
JoAnn
ReplyDeleteYour tags are gloriously full of life. I continue to enjoy all your so beautiful work. Blessings
Carole
Gorgeous gift card holders, thank you for joining us at Craftitude this fortnight xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a super idea. Love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing at Hobbycutz.
Susan x
Great gift card holders - a very clever idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at The Crafty Girls Challenge.
Helen x
These are fabulous! I really enjoy looking at them. Thanks for playing along with us this week at OSAAT, hope to see you back again soon.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Tracey (DT)