Scripture Verse tag books

I made a few of these Scripture verse tag books a couple of years ago now, and the verses mean just as much now to me as they did when I was reading through the book of Psalms during a really difficult time in my life. I decided to make some verse tag books for a couple of friends who are experiencing some struggles of their own, and I thought they might like something of this nature. The verses mean so much to me, speaking of God's character and faithfulness, especially when you're struggling, and clinging to who you know God to be. I hope that they find comfort and encouragement in the words of Scripture on these little tags. I think this idea can be used for so many things: quotes on friendships, moms, sisters, dads, etc. ... if you prefer something other than Bible verses. I'm posting a smattering of the pictures (there are a lot otherwise...).

True Beauty Layout

This layout all originated from a fantastic picture that was taken of my sister and niece last summer/spring. I knew as soon as I saw it that it needed to be scrapped and framed. It was a struggle finding the right papers to go with the colors in the pictures, but I didn't want to turn it to black and white because it was so vibrant. I was fortunate enough to get to see my best buddy over the weekend and she helped me figure out the last bit of "what to put where". Gotta love that friend of mine :) I used a copious amount of Stickles glitter glue on the layout too.. I think it really added to the feminine look with the more masculine colors of the cardstock.

Valentine's wood projects

I found these wood Valentine's projects while perusing my blog reader... the conversation block idea I found from Brown Paper Packages, and I can't remember where the stacked lengths idea was from... so if you come across it and it was your idea- for the record, I'm not claiming it as my own, but thanking you for a cute idea! :) In the Brown Paper Packages project, she used fence posts, but I had 2 x 4 blocks, so I just used those. I painted 2 different colors on the blocks, then sanded to show the bottom color. I did the same thing on the other project too. I cut out the letters out of vinyl with my Cricut- Alphalicious font. I'm thinking the "love, kisses, Valentine wishes" project might look more "complete" with some ribbon, but I need to find some first... so we'll see. The conversation hearts are fun because you can arrange them however you want. So thanks to the ladies in "blog-land" for the cute ideas! :)

Another wood project (different colors this time)

This is a repeat of a Christmas project I made with blocks cut from 2x4 wood. I made one of these the colors of green with brown underneath in the crackling- but didn't take a picture, doggone it! I made this one for a friend from church who is going through a really painful time right now, and she liked the colors of cream and red together, so that's what I did with the crackling. I was smart enough this time to write down the sizes of the letters that I used for each word- and whether I used the shadow feature or not. Makes it a lot easier to repeat the process if I don't have to try and figure it out again...

One of my older projects

I made this wood sign probably 10 years ago, perhaps longer... it's been on my sister's wall for a long time... This was from a time when I wrote on my own handmade signs. If you want to do this, my suggestion would be to perhaps draw a very faint line with a ruler so your writing stays level, and sketching your words in pencil first. Depending on what I had on hand, I used a black Sharpie pen or a black paint pen. My experience with the Sharpie was that when you try to brush sealer over it, it smears the ink. (Quite frustrating if you've gone to the painstaking work of the writing...) I also used clear glitter for a snow effect. You can either sprinkle it on wet paint, or on wet sealer to make it stick. I think I might try this quote using my Cricut machine and vinyl lettering, that could be really cute..

First project using my miter saw

This is my first project using my miter saw that I asked for (and received) for Christmas. Woohoo!!!!! Once I got headphones so the sound wouldn't make me completely weenie out from using it, the task was a lot easier to stand. I cut 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 inch pieces of wood from a 2 x 4, then set to sanding and painting. I considered crackling, but figured with the patterned paper (and asking my best buddy who also is crafty), decided to go with painting 2 colors on the wood and distressing to show the bottom layer of paint. After that, I just used Mod Podge to glue strips of paper on, and cut names out with my Cricut and vinyl- I borrowed my best friend's Alphalicious cartridge for the font, and added shadow on some. I (literally) wrapped up the project with some wired ribbon. Pretty simple, once I had the means to cut the wood. Speaking of wood, have any of you seen that Geico commercial with the woodchucks? "Hey you dang woodchucks! You quit chucking my wood!!!"... sorry, I really get a kick out of that. Oh, I found the idea for this project from http://www.howdoesshe.com/- fabulous site!!!

Christmas wood decor

I've continued to play around with wood, paint, crackling medium, and Cricut vinyl letters, and came up with this Christmas decoration. I like it so much that I want to make one that isn't in seasonal colors because of what it says about God and how I relate to Him. To me, He is my source of hope, joy, peace, and so much more, and He is definitely my Saviour. I used leftover pieces of 2 x 4's cut from the wood photo holders posted recently (from the http://www.howdoesshe.com/ site). I used a narrower piece of wood cut from a long board purchased and cut at Home Depot. I was originally going to put "Believe" on the long piece of wood as a separate decoration for Christmas, but then decided to use it with the 3 smaller pieces of wood. The whole thing was an experiment- I was going to put holiday words on the smaller pieces, and wasn't sure what all I was going to do. I'd also run out of the green and red paint, so I couldn't use the eight inch piece cut from the 2 x 4's that I had left over to put "Saviour" on, so I tried the one I'd originally intended for "Believe".. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I can arrange the wood pieces however I want. I don't think my infatuation with wood, paint, and crackling medium is over yet... :)