ABC Scripture Challenge -E-

Hi Stamping Friends!

I'm posting later than usual today.  I didn't have much time to work on my ABC Scripture Challenge page for Patter Cross' challenge on her blog, Triple the Scraps.  One thing that tripped me up was I didn't connect with the word she chose for the letter -E-, so I changed mine.  She chose the word "easy", but I chose the word "everything".  I finally started excersing again and while I was listening to my iPod, the words from a song (which are really words from a Psalm!) stuck in my brain... "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".  The thought that everything... the sky, the trees, the air, the entire world belongs to God alone, found a place in my heart.  It was a beautiful reminder that "I am not my own, but I belong, body and soul, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ."

To create this digital page, I used the Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper and Brush Set for My Digital Studio.  Every Tuesday, Stampin' Up! offers new downloads for MDS.  It's so tempting to keep getting more MDS goodies.  But I've been trying to use all the yummy stuff I already have.  This page came together quickly since I used a fabulous sketch from the February 2011 sketches at PageMaps.

I hope you can stop back by tomorrow.  We have a new challenge over at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge and we want you to play along! 

On Friday I plan on starting something new here at my blog.  I'm calling it For Real Friday.  I read a blog recently (can't remember which one.  I read too much stuff!) where she did a kind of weekly photo journalistic list of "stuff".  Family stuff, life stuff, etc.  I plan on doing something similar, but I will also include some stamping "stuff".  We will see how it goes.  I never thought I would use this blog for "personal" things, but I think it's time to branch out.  And since I did name it Krystal's Cards and More.  I think it's time to get to the "more" part.  :)  As Lysa TerKeurst (one of my Jesus girl heroes!) chatted on her blog today, I realized it was time for me to add a little "and then some" to my world.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping and Digi Scrapping!

ABC Scripture Challenge -D-

Hi Stamping and (digi) Scrapping Friends!!
Today I have an 8x8 digital scrapbook page that was created using My Digital Studio.  I've been participating in an ABC Scripture Challenge hosted by Patter Cross on her blog: Triple the Scraps.  The letter for today is -D- for DELIGHT.  Patter writes, "Is your delight God and His Word?  Where are you seeking counsel---friends or His Word?  And do you know that God delights in you too?  He delights in us as we read His Word and obey it, when we follow Him, glorify Him, etc.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord your God is with you.  He is mighty enough to save you.  He will take great delight in you.  The quietness of His love will calm you down.  He will sing with joy because of you." 

What a great verse!!!  The thought that I can bring delight to God amazes me.  I was so excited to see that Patter had chosen the word DELIGHT for this challenge.  You know how pastors and Christian speakers and authors are always encouraging you to choose a "life verse"?  Well, it just so happens that one of my "life verses" uses the word delight!!!

DELIGHT

Digi Paper and Accessories:  Sweet Stitches DSP, Buttons, Fabric Buttons, and Pom-pom Trim

Sketch:  PageMaps

When I was 12 years old, I started babysitting for a family at our church.  They were so kind to me.  I babysat for them when they had 2 children and then 3 children and until they finally moved away when I was about 16.  I was extremely shy back then, and when they would drive me home after I babysat, they would pour encouragement into my life.  They were the first ones to share Psalm 37:4 with me.  And when the moved, they gave me a plaque that had that verse written on it.  I cherished it for many years.  Who knows, my mom may still even have it in a box somewhere!  It was a verse that got me through many trials and heartaches of the growing up years of high school and college.  It still brings me hope even now.  Knowing that God has good things planned for me, if I keep seeking after His own heart, and not my own.  What a blessing.  The other verse I found using BibleGateway, my favorite online Bible resource.  Look for any verse, in any translation.  Or do like me, just search the whole Bible for certain words.  It is such an easy to use reference.

ETA: I receive a daily devotion in my email box from Proverbs 31 Ministiries.  Today's devotion was so perfect for the challenge of DELIGHT, that I just had to add it!  Enjoy!
While You Are SleepingSpeaking of easy to use.  My Digital Studio is easy-to-use software that lets you use Stampin' Up!'s exclusive artwork, designs and colors to create an assortment of printed, multidimensional, and multimedia projects.  Stampin' Up! even offers professional print services for color coordination and superior binding.  You can purchase fresh, new designs for your software.  Visit MY WEBSITE regularly for new images to inspire you!!  You can also visit the My Digital Studio online community, where you can see lots of amazing samples and also find out tons of great tips and tricks. 

I hope you will stop back by tomorrow and see what we will be celebrating at the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge.  You won't want to miss it!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping and (digi) Scrapping!

ABC Scripture Challenge -C-

-C- IS FOR CONFIDENCE

Hi Stamping and Scrapping Friends!!
This 8x8 digital scrapbook page was created for the ABC Scripture Challenge hosted by Patter Cross.  The letter "C" is for Confindence.  Not "self" confidence, but "God" confidence.  Patter asks these questions," Do you rely on 'self' or do you rely on God?  Do you think you can go through each day on your own without ever needing to rely on God?"  She then goes on to say, "Ask God to help you recognize those times when you are self-confident and ask Him to replace it with His confidence instead.  Then watch and be in awe of what He does!".  What a wonderful reminder to daily put our confidence in what God can do through us!

Again, I used BibleGateway to search for verses.  Love this site!!  What an amazing tool to have at your fingertips.  No more flipping back and forth through a Concordance.  And you can look at so many Bible versions.  So cool!  The two verses I chose were my favorites from the beginning of my search, so that part was easy.  The difficult part was deciding on what look to have for this page.  I started with a sketch from PageMaps.  Oh what did I ever do before PageMaps?!!  Love, LOve, LOVE this site too!!  So much inspiration.  Next, I went through the recent downloads I purchased for My Digital Studio.  Two of my favorite "new-to-me" downloads are Love Letter DSP and Artistic Etchings stamps.  So that is how I began creating this page and the rest just sort of fell into place.

Some of you have asked what I plan to do with these pages.  When the challenge is over, I do plan on printing them into a book.  I think it's fun to feature just one DSP kit and/or stamp set on each page.  It will be a great way to showcase all the downloads available for My Digital Studio.  My "A" page used the Travel Kit.  The "B" page used the Sweet Pea kit.  And this page uses the Love Letters DSP and Artisitc Etchings stamps.  With all the new downloads Stampin' Up! keeps offering, there will be plenty of them to feature for 26 pages!!  Stampin' Up! just came out with more new downloads on Tuesday.  You can now download the My Digital Studio Catalog in PDF format.  CLICK HERE

If you are interested in purchasing My Digital Studio or any of the MDS downloads, check out my Stampin' Up! website.  If you want to see more cards and/or scrapbook pages designed with My Digital Studio, check out the My Digital Studio online community.  It is a wonderful place find out all the lastest digi tips and tricks.

Yesterday I said I was going to share some fun news with you. Well, the pages I have been creating for the ABC Scripture Challenge were chosen by Shelli Gardner, the cofounder and CEO of Stampin' Up!, as a winner for her New Year Creative Challenge!!  Isn't that so exciting!!!!  Check out the link to the post on her blog, So Shelli.  Let me tell you, I was doin' the happy dance when I received the email telling me I my projects had won!  I am so thrilled and honored that she (the real Shelli Gardner!!) chose my MDS digi creations.  I've only just started playing around with the program and still consider myself a newbie to digi scrapping.  The best part about winning, is that I got to pick out one stamp set of my choice, from the current catalog.  I knew exactly what I wanted, Fabulous Phrases.  I can't wait until it comes!!  I've been wanting it forever!

That's enough chatter from me for one day.  I hope you visit again tomorrow.  It's Stampin' Celebration time and we have another fabulous inspiration challenge for you.

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping and Scrapping and Digi Creating!

ABC Scripture Challenge -B-

-B- IS FOR BIBLE

Hi Stamping and Scrapping Friends!
Today's My Digital Studio page is for the ABC Scripture Challenge hosted by Patter Cross.  The letter "B" is for Bible.  In her lesson on the Bible, Patter says, "The truth of God's Word transcends generations.  It is powerful and effective, and it points people to who God is."  I love the peace in knowing that God's Word never changes.  It is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, for every generation. 

I chose two verses.  I love going to BibleGateway and searching for verses.  It is so cool, because you can just put in a word (or words) and it searches the whole Bible and finds every verse that contains that word!!  It also has tons of different translations.  I always have such a hard time choosing which verses to put on the page.  They are all so meaningful!  I chose the Isaiah verse, because it paints such a wonderful word picture of the grass and the flower fading.  And the verse from Proverbs came from my One Year Bible.  I always love when you are studying one thing and it pops up somewhere else.  It's like God is tapping you on the shoulder and saying, "Looky here!!  I'm trying to tell you something!!".  :)

This 8x8 page uses the Sweet Pea Designer Series Kit for My Digital Studio.  After I read the verse from Isaiah, I knew I wanted a page with lots of flowers on it (even though they are not fading!).  The hardest part of this page was layering the flowers.  It's hard to decide what should be on top and what should be underneath and what needs to be turned a little this way or a little that way.  To make the curvy look, I added a square punch of the Old Olive polka dotted paper to each corner and then covered it with the flowers.  As usual, the layout comes from my all-time favorite scrap sketch site, PageMaps.  I don't know why I bother looking anywhere else.  I love every layout they have every created!!!

I hope you will stop back by tomorrow!  I will have a "lovely" card for you for the Stampin' Celebration Challenge.  We hope you can play along and celebrate with us!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!

ABC Scripture Challenge -A-

-A- IS FOR ANCHOR

Hi Stamping and Scrapping Friends!!

A few years back I found a challenge that combined two of my favorite things, the Bible and scrapbooking!  I was so excited when I recently ran across Patter Cross's blog, Triple the Scraps, and found out that this year she is doing another Bible/scrap challenge called the ABC Scripture challenge.  Of course since I am loving My Digital Studio so much, I decided to take up the challenge digi style!!  This page is 8x8.  I'm hoping to turn these into an album to showcase My Digital Studio.  I used alot of elements from the Travel Journal Digital Kit.

In her lesson on ANCHOR, Patter says, "If we are not anchored to God, we drift.  We waiver in our realtionship with Him, and then we feel like we will drown in the storms of life.  God not only knows what is going on in your life, He has the power to help you deal with it."  That is so reassuring to me!!  I need to remember everyday to keep myself anchored to the One who can keep me secure during those storms in my life.

What I love about Patter's scripture challenges is there are no photos required!  I had never scrapped without photos before.  The first time I tried it, I felt a new sense of creative freedom.  I could create anything I wanted!!!  No birthday parties or Christmas pages or pictures of the first day of school.  It was really thrilling.  I'm not sure why I stopped participating in that challenge.  I'm sure life just got in the way.  I should go back and finish the 2009 study, which was called His Holy Name.  Just last week (after the computer virus incident) I deleted all my old card photos.  They are saved on an external hard drive, but I was trying to free up space on my desktop.  So the only copies I could find of the scrap pages I did back in 2009 was in my gallery at Splitcoast Stampers.  The photo quality is horrible, but I thought it would be fun to show them to you. 

 

 

My favorite page of these is the Creator one.  It just makes me smile.  :)

If you have any questions about how My Digital Studio works, email me.  I'd be happy to "chat" with you!

I hope you can stop back by tomorrow.  It will be time for another inspiration challenge over at the Stampin' Celebration Challenge.  You won't want to miss what we are celebrating next!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!