ODBD August Gems of Inspiration Challenge

We’re deep into summer right now, and depending on where you live, you’re either enjoying the last days of summer vacation or the children are already back in school.  Either way, August seems to be a busy month for lots of us.

So the challenge for August is really simple… create a layout using photos that were taken during the summer months.  

For my inspiration today, I’m revisiting a layout of TJ at Myrtle Beach, SC in July of 2006.  I used the ODBD The Mighty Sea stamp set.  This set contains a beautiful image stamp plus several scripture verses and quotes.

Supplies:

K & CO. Patterned Paper
Bazzill Cardstock
ODBD The Mighty Sea Stamps
Basic Grey Gems
K & Co. Paper Ribbon
Buttons, Tags, Twine, Thread
Pebbles Chalk
Memento, Tim Holtz Distress, Colorbox Chalk and VersaFine Inks

I challenge you to play along this month.  I’d love to see your layouts.  You are not required to use ODBD stamps for this challenge, but if you do, please upload your pages to the Scrapbook Pages Category in the ODBD gallery.  If you aren't yet registered in the gallery, sign up only takes a couple of minutes.  If you do not use ODBD stamps, you can post to your blog or another publicly viewable online gallery and share the link here.

Please use the keywords ODBDGI09 (with no spaces) when uploading your layouts to public galleries and be sure and come back here and paste a link in the comment section to let us know so we can see your beautiful work!

I will be posting more layouts for this challenge during the month  (using photos from our vacation) so please stop back  by and check them out.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Blessings to you !!!

Word Art Wednesday #39

Hi Everyone!!!

I'm back from our 2 week road trip across the USA.  We drove from Virginia to California and back, stopping to see the sights along the way.  America is definitely a beautiful country and I felt myself humming this tune in my head quite frequently from the back seat of our car...

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

I'll be sharing more from our trip in future posts,  but today is Wednesday and that means...time for some Word Art!!!!  Today's word is from Colossians 3...

Chapter 3 in Paul's letter to the Colossians is all about rules for holy living. Paul tells us that the attitude of peace that Christ alone gives (in place of the attitude of bitterness and quarrelsomeness) is to rule in all human relationships. Christ gave us HIS peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding.  His peace gives us unity and oneness,  a sense of wholeness and well being.  It is a state of true harmony, not division.  His peace should rule our hearts and minds.  Let us use his peace, which he generously gave to all of us, to decide what is right when conflicts of life arise.  Just think of how much misery and strife we would avoid if we let the peace of God rule our hearts.  Christ calls us to peace, and we are to be thankful. 

For my layout today,  I used an iPhone photo of me at the Grand Canyon last week.  Talk about the peace of God!!!  Standing at the rim of the Canyon,  looking out upon all of God's handiwork,  you can feel His presence.  And if you are still for a moment, and just take in all the beauty, an indescribable feeling of peace overwhelms you. And you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is God!

Supplies:
Me and My Big Ideas Patterned Paper
Club Scrap Cardstock
Washi Tape
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist
CTMH Ink
Stampin' Up Corner Punch
Charm - Thanks Sabrina!!
Floss

I hope you join the Word Art Wednesday challenge this week. Check out the Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog to see what the other design team members created with this week's art. Don't forget that we have two sponsors this week so you have double the chances of winning.  Be sure to check out the challenge guidelines to find out how you can be eligible for the prize drawing from this week's sponsors Heart and Soul Rubber Stamps and Freckled Fawn.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a blessed week.

Word Art Wednesday # 38

Hi everyone, I know some of you have wondered where I've been. I'm on a family vacation, on a road trip across the great USA. We left Virginia 12 days ago headed to California for a family reunion and now we're on our way back home. I'm actually typing this post on my iPhone from the back seat of our car somewhere in Oklahoma...where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...or something like that LOL. I'm not very iPhone savy so I don't know how to add photos to my post so I'll just give you the address to the Word Art Wednesday blog and you can find out all about this week's word and view my layout for the week. http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com I'll be home in a few days and back my regular Word Art Wednesday posts next week. Thanks for stopping by!! Blessings, Gemiel

Word Art Wednesday #36

Hi!!  Before we get to our word art for the week,  I'd like to thank everyone for stopping by my blog week after week and viewing my layouts.  I really appreciate all of your wonderful comments.  They bless me more than you know.

Today's word is from the Book of Isaiah...

We are all children, God's children, and as such we should be taught of our Father, the Lord.  God has appointed and annointed teachers to instruct us under His direction and blessing. God tells us that those that know and love Him shall have great peace and joy.  As a parent, what greater joy is there than to know that our children will have God's peace because we have ensured that they have been taught of and know Him.

We started teaching our son TJ of God at a very early age.  Proverbs 22:6 tells us to "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it."   TJ is active in our church and he has been a lay reader since he was in elementary school.  When he first started reading, he had to stand on a stool to be seen.  Now he no longer needs the stool.  We are so proud of him.

For my layout,  I used a photo of TJ doing the scripture reading at Sunday service last month.   To embellish the page I stamped the Our Daily Bread Designs Grunge Cross next to the photo. To go along with the grunge look of the image,  I distressed the edges of my papers and added metal studs.

Supplies:
DCWV Patterned Papers
ODBD Grunge Cross Stamp
K&Co. Metal Studs
Tim Holtz Staples
Lifestyle Crafts Die

I hope you join the Word Art Wednesday challenge this week. Check out the Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog to see what the other design team members created with this week's art. Be sure to check out the challenge guidelines to find out how you can be eligible for the weekly prize drawing from this week's sponsor Whimsy Stamps.

This week, I'm also linking my page up to ODBD Shining the Light Challenge and Tuesday's Testimonials Linky Party.

Thanks for stopping by.   Blessings to you.

ODBD July Gems of Inspiration Challenge

Happy Friday!!!  It's the first Friday in July, and time for a new Gems of Inspiration scrapbook challenge. 

When I think of July, I immediately think of the 4^th, one of our nation’s most important holidays, as it

is the day we celebrate our nation declaring its independence from Great Britain.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people he chose for his inheritance.

From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;

from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth- 

Psalm 33:12-14

                                      

Our founding fathers included the phrase “One nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.   That was included for a reason.  God is looking down on our nation.  Is He pleased with all that He sees???  We will be held accountable…

This month’s challenge is in honor of our country.  Your challenge is to create a layout about something that represents the United States.   There are so many things that represent the US…baseball and apple pie, red, white and blue, the flag, a national landmark or treasure, the military… this challenge can be as broad as your imagination takes you.

For my layout, I used photos that I took on a trip to Washington DC in April 2009.   I used the ODBD God Bless America stamp set which contains the US flag image stamp and several quotes.  I used the quote by George Washington which I mounted on the flag image with pop dots.

Supplies:

Stampin' Station and Reminisce Patterned Papers

Bazzill Cardstock

Paper Studio and EK Success Stickers

My Mind's Eye Transparency Frame

ODBD God Bless America Stamp Set

K & Co. Gems

Copic & Spectrum Noir Markers

Tim Holtz Staples

I challenge you to play along this month.  I’d love to see your layouts.  You are not required to use ODBD stamps for this challenge, but if you do, please upload your pages to the Scrapbook Pages Category in the ODBD gallery.  If you aren't yet registered in the gallery, sign up only takes a couple of minutes.  If you do not use ODBD stamps,  post your layout to your blog or another publicly viewable online gallery and share the link here.

 
Please use the keywords ODBDGI08 (with no spaces) when uploading your layouts to public galleries and be sure and come back here and paste a link to let us know so we can see your beautiful work!

Word Art Wednesday #35

Happy Wednesday!!!  Today is a great day!!  First of all it's the 4th of July, Independence Day, the day we celebrate our nation's freedom.  One nation under God!!  Secondly, it's the first Wednesday of the month so it's double sponsor day!!  We have 2 sponsors for this week's challenge,  Isabella's Sketchbook and Our Daily Bread Designs.  Stop by their sites and check them out.

Today's word art comes from the book of Deuteronomy...

When you stop to think about it,  God doesn't really ask much of us.  All we have to do is love Him with ALL our heart, soul and might. And Jesus did say that this is the first and greatest commandment.  If we truly love God with everything we've got, He'll take care of the rest.  Pretty easy, huh???  NOT!!   Perhaps if we lived in a vacuum...but we live in the world, and things of the world can be pretty distracting at times... 

Last week I had the privilege of being a preschool leader at our church's Vacation Bible School.  Challenging yes, but seeing those little children so eager and excited to learn about God far outweighed the challenges.   Of course they get distracted too, but their distractions were temporary. We were always able to bring them back to the main focus, God, because their hearts were so open to receive and pour forth God's love.  Let the little children remind us that we are to love God with our "all".

Supplies:

We R Memory Keepers Patterned Paper

Bazzill Cardstock

Making Memories Alphabet Stickers

Martha Stewart Heart Gems

Ric Rac

Lifestyle Crafts Dies

I hope you join the Word Art Wednesday challenge this week. Check out the Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog to see what the other design team members created with this week's art. Don't forget that we have two sponsors this week so you have double the chances of winning.  Be sure to check out the challenge guidelines to find out how you can be eligible for the prize drawing. from this week's sponsors Isabella's Sketchbook and Our Daily Bread Designs.

Thanks for stopping by!!  Enjoy your 4th!!!

ODBD July Challenge

Hi Everyone!!!  If you stopped by today looking for the July Our Daily Bread Designs Scrapbook Challenge, I have some sad news.  The scrapbook challenges on the ODBD blog are going on hiatus for awhile. But I do have some good news, scrapbookers can participate in the ODBD Shining the Light Challenge which is a weekly challenge that will now post on Tuesday mornings at 8:00 AM EST. Each week there is a different challenge and you can submit your layout following the challenge guidelines posted on the ODBD Blog.  This week's challenge is an easy one...just use Our Daily Bread Designs stamps on your creation.  And there is a prize, a $15 gift certificate to the ODBD Store. You have until July 8 at 8 PM EST, to complete the challenge. To see the  challenge guidelines, check out the blog post here.

I'm linking up the following layout for this week's challenge.   I used the  ODBD Serve the Lord stamp set on my layout. The photos are of TJ and me at Vacation Bible School in 2011.

Supplies:
Sei Patterned Paper, Tags, Alphabets and Ribbon
ODBD Serve the Lord Stamp Set

We will be continuing the monthly Gems of Inspiration Scrapbook Challenge on the ODBD Forum. This challenge posts on the first Friday of the month in the forum and on my blog.  If you're not already a member of the ODBD Forum please consider joining us. We'd love to have you.

Thanks for stopping by.  Blessings to you!