My DIY Prayer Retreat- Reflection

 I had such grand plans for my school holidays in June. I was going to spend time with various friends, learn how to play lawn bowls, watch netflix, go on a wellness retreat, start a new exercise regime, make lots of cards, declutter my wardrobe and study, do my taxes, cook freezer meals for the new school term and read a novel. OMGGM.  Grand plans! 

When I caught a bad cold three weeks before my holiday and was still feeling awful a week before the holidays, my plans changed! 

The first week, was spent in bed, mostly.  I slept during the day! I watched netflix.  That's about it.  I did manage to go to the specialist. 

Then, the BFF asked me to house/cat sit for her and I had a brilliant idea. There was no way I could do all the things. Staying at the BFF's, on my own, was a good opportunity to have a DIY Prayer Retreat. I had seen some blog posts about DIY retreats. I was seriously excited as I prepared and it did not disappoint. The best article I read was this one from Arabah Joy. I recommend reading it and thinking using the ideas from there to plan your own retreat. 

You could also check out this Pinteret board with some of the articles and quotes that I used during my retreat. 

You might be wondering what I planned for the retreat... 

The Plan

 8:30 am Worship and Reflection - listen to worship music- craft

 9:00 am Quiet worship music, read psalms and call to worship. Then journalling setting up an intention. 

10:00 am Reading Bible Study/ Devotional

10:30 am Reflection and Journaling- 

11:00 am Gratitude Journalling- crafting

12 noon Lunch

12:30 pm Confession and Continued reading 

1:00 pm Journalling

1:30pm Praying for others- make cards (?)

2:00pm Music and Reflection Journalling.

This is how it actually turned out. 

9 am (I started late, but that's okay): worship music, prayer asking God to guide me and journalling

11am Gratitude Journalling- Read praise and worship Psalms (played worship music during this time too).

12 noon Lunch

12:30pm Reading Articles about grace, body image, diet and nutrition and note taking about these. 

1:00pm Journalling- prayer

1:30pm Writing a list of people I wanted to pray for and prayer.

2:00pm Reflective Journalling- planning for future reading, small steps for the future (next retreat, daily to do's in light of reading and prayer). 

Will I do it again? 

Absolutely. 

Also, I came to a few conclusions while I was 'retreating' and I will tell you more about that next time. 

If you get the opportunity, a few hours or even just one, being still in God's presence and digging deep into His word is so worth it. Do it! Whenever you can. 

Until Next Time, God Bless You. 

Clean Up and Create

I made these cards while cleaning my blending brushes! Using the residual ink on the brushes I managed to make these gorgeous cards.  The images were already coloured and cut out, so it was really easy to put these together. Unbelievable, right? Check these out. 

Using residual ink from your blending brushes, gives a
soft and cloudy look to the background.  Blending through a stencil,
makes it easier to cover the whole background. 
This panel is a bit smaller than the front of the card, so that helps too. 
The image and sentiments are from a My Favourite Things stamp set.

Th feather is ink blended through a stencil, using
a mix of ink on my brushes.  I don't remember which colours. 
There was still ink on my pink brush, so I added soft shadows 
around the edge of the panel as well.  Again using a smaller panel helps. 

After stencilling a more vibrant rainbow background,
I made this softer one using the residual ink on my brushes.
The yellow ink ended up a bit green, as it mixed with the blue ink,
but it still looks cool, right?
White heat embossing on black cardstock is the perfect 
compliment to this cheerful background. 

These cards were inspired by Amy from Amy's Wares, who often uses the residual ink on her blending brushes when she is creating.  Check out her blog and videos. Thanks for the inspiration, Amy!

Happy Crafting! 

A Great You Tube Channel

From time to time, I like to share something "Great" with you.  Something worthy of A Great Title.  

Today, I'm sharing with you, Amy's Wares.  

Photo Credit: these are thumbnails I copied from Amy's Website. 
These cards are just beautiful and I can't take credit for any of them! 

Amy is a lovely lady who makes some great cards.  She loves to use stencils (mostly from A Colorful Life Designs- ACLD) to create backgrounds, focal points and even sentiments on her cards.  She also likes to pre-stamp sentiments and store them in a big binder.  These seem to make her card making process quite quick. We all need to make a card in a hurry from time to time, so seeing how she does it helps me so much.  

I learned about Amy from a Facebook group I belong to (called Prokraftination) when Amy shared one of her 5 cards in 10 minutes videos.  It was around Christmas and I'm always looking for simple Christmas card designs so I clicked her link!  I checked out the video and I was hooked.  It also helps that Amy shares my love of Catherine Pooler Inks!  When I first saw how versatile stencils can be and the lower price point, I have been slowly growing my stencil collection.  I love using stencils to make backgrounds for cards, so a crafter who uses at least one stencil in almost every card, is a crafter I want to follow.  

The 5 cards in 10 minutes videos are nice and short and show some lovely clean and simple designs.  While I can't purchase from ACLD right now... that's a story for another day... I am making myself a long wishlist of products that I want to purchase from them.  I'm also looking at the products in my own stash and thinking about how I can use them to create simple cards.  It's so good to find another crafter who inspires you! :) 

Today you got three "Greats"- 

Amy's Wares - a great You Tube Channel- short videos that show simple techniques for quick and easy cardmaking! :) 

A Colorful Life Designs- a great small business that has a variety of innovative and versatile craft products. 

Prokraftination- a great facebook group where anyone can share their craft projects, link to their blog/ instagram/ You Tube videos and other social media accounts.  The owner of the group, Koren Wiskman, also shares special offers, giveaways and prizes with group members.  I love Koren and I have included her in a blog post before. The members of this facebook group are so encouraging too. 

Now that makes 4 'Greats'.  You are so lucky! I hope you are feeling inspired! I know I am. 

Until next time, Happy Crafting! 

Almost time to Party... Harry Potter's Birthday!

31 July is Harry's Potter's Birthday! So, to get you in the groove for some Wizarding Fun, let's check out some of my favourite ways to celebrate everyone's favourite magical orphan.

1. Face paint... Last year, I spent Harry Potter's Birthday, with a black lightening shaped scar 'painted' on my forehead.  Can you believe my colleagues felt no need to join me?

 2. Make sure your friends know it's time to party.

 3. Get your invisibility cloak on and....

4. Play some Hogwarts Inspired Games....

Check out these links for more ideas of Harry Potter Games to play.  

Scavenger Hunt 1

Scavenger Hunt 2

More Harry Potter Party Games

5. Be Proud of your Harry Potter Obsession

6. Decorate..

Click here for more ideas for decorating an Epic Harry Potter Party. 

7. Have some sympathy for Voldemort.... 

7. Remember.... 

AND.....

BUT... some life choices need to go a bit further than.... 

What are you doing on Harry Potter's Birthday? Let me know in the comments.  

Craft Technique: Ink Dragging with Embossing Folders

This is a variation on the 'direct to paper' technique that card makers love.  In case you don't know what that is, it's quite simple.  You open the ink pad and you lay it directly onto your cardstock or paper.  Then, you press it down and wipe it all over the cardstock to colour it.  It's like colouring in with an ink pad.  You can do this with ink blending, but if you want a solid colour, it's much quicker to do it with the ink pad.

This technique has an extra step and it requires a gentle touch.  First, emboss your plain white cardstock using an embossing folder in your die cutting machine.  I use a Cuttlebug, but any machine with any of your embossing folders will work the same.  Follow the dry embossing instructions that come with your particular machine.  Now for the fun part, choose an ink pad (or a few) and drag it over the cardstock, gently.  You may need to do it a couple of times.  The ink should colour the raised part of the cardstock.  If you want to see this technique in action, check out this video from May May (Made it).  She does a great job of explaining the process and shows you some ways to step up this technique.

Why do I love this technique?

1. It's a new way to use embossing folders, so I can make something different with supplies I already have. 
2. I can co-ordinate my embossed image with the ink colour I use on the sentiment or other elements on my card. 
3. This technique works with a range of embossing folders, small, large, frames, patterns, main images and even sentiments/ greetings. 
4. You can use any colour you like. 
5. If you need a background in a hurry, this one really packs a punch! 
6. You can use either side of the cardstock (the debossed or embossed side) which means you can get another 'look' from the same folder and stretch the supplies even further.  WOW.  
7. It's kind of hard to mess this up.  It's so easy! 

Here are a couple of the cards I created using this technique.  I played with a few other folders and made some more backgrounds but I haven't made them into cards yet.  

This card uses an embossing folder I bought at a cheap shop.  

If you know the original designer, I would love to give them credit. 

Ink: Rose Bud from Memento.  Sentiment: alpha stamps by Simply Cards?

This card was made using an embossing folder that was gifted to me, 

it came from a magazine and I don't know which one.  

I dragged gold pigment ink (Brilliance) over the raised pattern on the cardstock. 

The sentiment "joy" comes from the "And" sentiments by Catherine Pooler Designs.  

I will definitely be using this technique again!
See you next week! :)

Cards for Sad Occasions

Sympathy Cards

You always want to send love to someone who is grieving, but making a sympathy card can be really challenging.  What colour/s are appropriate? How will the person be feeling? What sentiment is appropriate? What do I write inside? Does it look right?

Thinking of You Cards

A similar difficulty is "Thinking of You" cards or a card for someone with a terminal illness.  It's not appropriate to say "Get Well Soon" and it's not right to send "Sympathies".  What do you say to that?

It seems to me that after birthday and thank you cards the next most common card for me to make are Sympathy or Thinking of You cards. Grief is a fact of life and I can tell you from experience that a handmade card with a brief message of love is always welcome.  

Here are my tips for making Cards for Sad Occasions. 

• Choose a clean and simple design.
• If you are going to make one Sympathy card (or other similar card) make a batch so you always have a few on hand.
• Use muted colours (nothing bright) or neutrals such as white, black/ grey, craft, silver, gold and copper.
• Second generation stamping gives a soft look.  
• Keep patterns simple and subtle.
• Use versatile and simple sentiments such as "Thinking of you", "Sending Love and Prayers", "You are in my Prayers", "You are in my thoughts", and even "With Sympathy".

If you want to see a blog post and video from Catherine Pooler (which inspired some of my cards) click here. 

I used products from Catherine Pooler Designs and Memory Box (available at Craftie Café).  I used Rhubarb Stalk and Sweet Plum inks from Memento (both muted colours) and Versamark ink for a subtle watermark on the background.

Happy Stamping...
Love

Crafty Technique of the Month: CASEing

CASE means Copy And Share Everything!

I have blogged about CASEing in the past.  Check it out here. The best way to learn about card making and get better at it is to watch and learn from others, then copy.  Pinterest is my best friend when it comes to card making and so is You Tube.  I have learned so much about craft techniques and design  in such a short time all from watching videos and looking at pictures.  

Today I want to share some tips with you for CASEing cards you have seen online.  CASEing is a great way to kick start your crafting and get creative.  

CASEing Tips

• Copy: Don't be afraid to copy colour schemes, layouts, sentiments or an entire design.  Each time you reproduce a card you have seen you will learn something new about creating. 
• Adapt: you might not have the same stamp sets that were used to create the cards you see and love. So, look at what you have and think about how you can create something similar or how you can copy the elements.

A gorgeous card using the Love Is in the Air SOA

from Ashlea Crafts

I CASE'd Ashlea's Card by
changing the gold embossing to purple (colour and medium)

I used a smaller card base, so I used less flowers (layout) and
I used a different sentiment (theme). 
I also added a border (line) and
ink blending (medium) to round out the scene.  

Design elements include colour, layout, shapes, lines, theme and sentiments so choose which elements you want to copy and which you will need to adapt.

• Medium: if the card uses strips of card stock you could use washi tape instead or border stamps.  The card uses a background stamp you could use patterned paper instead.  The card uses heat embossing, can you use an embossing folder instead?  This is a great way to stretch your supplies too.
• Colour:  copy everything but change the colours.  If the original card has been made in blue and green, try making the same card with pink and purple instead.  See what happens.  Yellow and blue look great but what if the yellow was orange? Change all the colours or just one.  

• Layout: use all the same elements while changing the layout.  Just changing the orientation of a card (landscape to portrait) can make a card look really different. You could also change a vertical border to a horizontal one or a diagonal sentiment to a straight one. 
• Shapes and Lines: Change flowers to basic shapes or stars.  Balloons on a birthday card could be changed to flowers, stars, circles or even squares or triangles.  A border stamp of lines could be replaced with a border of small shapes. 
• Theme: a thank you card can easily be changed into a birthday card by changing the main image. A feminine card can be more masculine by changing the patterned paper or the colour scheme.  

People share photos of their cards for many reasons and this usually includes pride in their work.  I have to say, I would be really excited to see a card someone has made that was inspired by a photo they saw of one of my cards.  People who make cards are sharers.  So, don't feel bad about copying, do it with gratitude and acknowledge the person who inspired you.  Link back to their blog, video or other social media where you saw the card if you publish your work on your own blog or social media.  

Have a wonderful week. See you soon. 

Hagrid's 10 Answers

Hagrid here! Mum asked me to give my 10 answers to the 10 Questions from James Lipton's ItAS.

 

What is your favourite word?
Love

What is your least favourite word?
Squash

What turns you on?
Hugs

What turns you off?
Rough children

What is your favourite curse word?
FUR Cryin' Out Loud!

What sound or noise do you love?
Mum turning on the air conditioner and the TV.  It means she is going to hang out in her room with me! :D

What sound or noise do you hate?
When Grandma says, "get me a needle and some cotton."

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Library Bear, because I love to listen to kids read.  They could read to me all day long!

What profession would you not like to do?
Toddler Room Teddy.... have you seen Toy Story 3?!!

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
The honey fountain is on the right and nap time is mandatory.

All my Furriest Cyber Hugs to all you AGT readers!
Luv Hagrid

 

10 Answers to those 10 Questions

Do you want to know more about these questions?  Click here.

Dying to know what I answered to the first 10 questions?  Check it... LOL

What is your favourite word?          

                      Thank you

What is your least favourite word?         

                        Can't

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    

   That moment when everything comes together and you learn  something new.

What turns you off?

                     Dishonesty

What is your favourite curse word?  

                     Schnicklefritz (I don't swear, but I use made up words)

What sound or noise do you love?
               
                 When my nieces and nephews greet me with delight.

What sound or noise do you hate?

                      Nagging

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

                      Cat Behaviourist

What profession would you not like to do?

                       Any job in the medical field

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

                  Well Done! Welcome Home!

That's that then!

10 questions for which you want an answer

Lately I have been enjoying episodes of Inside the Actor's Studio that are being replayed on Foxtel on a Friday night.  I enjoyed George Clooney, Brad Pitt and casts of various TV shows but my favourite so far had to be Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory.  It was nice to learn about his past as well as other projects he has done. I have to say, the best part of Inside the Actor's Studio is the 10 questions at the end that James Lipton asks every guest.  The questions that can be answered with one or two words, at most, a sentence.  Seemingly simple questions that reveal more about the interviewee than one might expect. 

Here is some information about where these questions originated and the various forms they've taken. 

James Lipton's Questions

He asks them at the end of every episode of Inside the Actor's Studio and has done for more than 30 years.  They are internationally famous and despite your scepticism, ten short answers to these questions will reveal quite a bit about a person. 

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off?
5. What is your favorite curse word?
6. What sound or noise do you love?
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Bernard Pivots Questionnaire

Adapted for his television show where Pivot interviewed writers of all genres, he had first read them in the book where Proust's answers were first published. 

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What is your favorite drug?
4. What sound or noise do you love?
5. What sound or noise do you hate?
6. What is your favorite curse word?
7. Who would you like to see on a new banknote?
8. What profession other than your own would you not like to attempt?
9. If you were reincarnated as some other plant or animal, what would it be?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Marcel Proust's Questionnaires

These are called his questionnaires because he is perhaps the most famous writer to have his answers published.   The answers of many writers have been published.  These questions or something like them were apparently popular at dinner parties as they are thought to reveal so much about a person.  As you read them you will probably make some similarities to the classic conversation starters we tend to use on a first date.  Awkward! 

At age 13:

1. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
2. Where would you like to live?
3. What is your idea of earthly happiness?
4. To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
5. Who are your favorite fictional heroes?
6. Who are your favorite characters in history?
7. Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
8. Who are your favorite fictional heroines?
9. Who is your favorite painter?
10. Who is your favorite musician?
11. What quality do you most admire in a man?
12. What quality do you most admire in a woman?
13. What is your favorite virtue?
14. What is your favorite occupation?
15. Who would you have liked to be?

At age 20:

1. What is your most marked characteristic?
2. What quality do you most like in a man?
3. What quality do you most like in a woman?
4. What do you value most in your friends?
5. What is your principal defect?
6. What is your favorite occupation?
7. What is your dream of happiness?
8. What to your mind would be the greatest misfortune?
9. What would you like to be?
10. In what country would you like to live?
11. What is your favorite color?
12. What is your favorite flower?
13. What is your favorite bird?
14. Who are your favorite prose writers?
15. Who are your favoite poets?
16. Who are your favorite fictional heros?
17. Who are your favorite fictional heroines?
18. Who are your favorite composers?
19. Who are your favorite painters?
20. Who are your heroes in real life?
21. Who are your favorite heroines of history?
22. What are your favorite names?
23. What do you most dislike?
24. What historical figures do you most despise?
25. What event in military history do you most admire?
26. What reform do you most admire?
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
28. How would you like to die?
29. What is your present state of mind?
30. To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
31. What is your motto?

For more information go to Senselist. 

 

A different kind of Bucket List

I have been checking out online bucket lists in the last day or so.  It never ceases to amaze me what you can find on the internet!  There are bucket lists for couples, for teenage girls, teen boys, best friends and families.  There are travel bucket lists, stay at home bucket lists, bucket lists for readers, movie buffs, Potterheads and animal lovers.   

As my eye ran over the images and read the myriad of destinations, activities, life events and honourable goals, I realised something that had never occurred to me before.  It also occurred to me that the revelation that is true for me is probably true for a lot of you, too.  =D I'm about to drop some philosophy on you, ready?

While there are lots of things I would like to do, there are a whole lot of things I have already done!  In fact, many of the goals and activities that other people are placing on their bucket lists are on my "been there, done that' list.  Therefore, I am going to share my new and different Bucket List with you. Here is my list of stuff that I have done!  Stuff that other people dream about.  Stuff that I once dreamed about and thought I would never do.  Stuff that some people will never do.  Stuff that some people are planning right now.  Stuff that is pretty cool!!

Here's the plan.
Today I will share with you a few of the items on the lists I've seen.  All of which I have done.  =)

Next time, I will share some more with you- there are so many, I think it will be better to spread them out a bit- finally I will share some travel type ones with you too. 


You all know Shelly!!

 

You have met Nora!

 

They were both short vacations but they were worth it!
Just us girls!!

While I don't live with her now, me and my BFF did live in the same house for a time.
Note: we never walked around in our underwear!!

 

Please note: I sourced all the images from Pinterest.  Some of them had links to websites, some didn't. 

That's that, for now!