Cindy Coutts Designs

Good morning. Today is Cardabilities Sketch 10 and it's a fun one, as they all are! I made this very bright and cheerful card for my son and daughter-in-law, who it doesn't look like that I'm going to be able to see until Christmas and that breaks my heart, because that will be over a year since I've seen them. It's just always so crazy busy. Both of our schedules are hard to coordinate, but we have to make and take the time to see each other.

I hope that this inspires you in some way and don't forget to check out what the rest of the awesome design team created for this challenge as well! Please join us today. We'd love to have you play along! God bless you and have a fabulous day! Thank you for stopping by to see me.

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated.

Stamps: Aviary, Whimsical Words
Card Stock: Pure Poppy, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight
Designer Paper: Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper, Pure Poppy Designer Series Paper
Ink: Pure Poppy, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Accessories: Baja Breeze Designer Button, Hemp Twine, Daffodil Delight 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Pure Poppy 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Spellbinders Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Spellbinders Labels One Nestabilities
Technique: Die-cutting and dry embossing
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Cardabilities Sketch 10

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Good morning and I pray that you are having a very blessed Sunday so far. Today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 54 is based off of Proverbs 27:17, which reads, "Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Translation: Choose your friends wisely. If your friend doesn't lift you up in the Lord or slap your hand when you need it in the Lord, then they are not a friend. A friend will maintain this balance. Sometimes they'll let you fall, sometimes they'll pick you up, but the main point is you have to determine whether a friend is a blessing or a curse in your life. I have a ton of people whom I am acquainted with, but there's only a handful of people on the face of this earth who I know I can go to if there's trouble or I need some help or prayer or just some good old-fashioned guidance on something, and they will keep it confidential and pray for me. I take it to one person only, not the entire gamut of my circle. You have to be very discerning. I live in a small town, like Mayberry small, and the gossip around this place is absolutely horrible. I've never seen anything like it in my life, so I keep a distance from a lot of people, and this includes those I go to church with! That's what's really pathetic! I have very close friends at church, praise God, but I also know who to keep my distance from as well. Be discerning and pick and choose your friends wisely, because whoever  you hang out with, they will also rub off on you too.

For our challenge today, we are to use metal on our cards. I chose a library clip to use on my masculine card. Digital Delights is graciously sponsoring us today. Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team to see what they made for this challenge! Thank you for stopping by and may the Lord bless your day.

All products used to make this card are Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Motorcycle, Occasional Quotes (Hostess)
Card Stock: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, textured Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Going Gray, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, sponge, Library Clip, Hemp Twine
Technique: Tearing, sponging
Size: 5-1/2 x 4-1/4
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 54

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Good morning everybody and I hope that this is the start of a wonderful weekend for you. Today we have another fabulous sketch at The Sweet Stop that's sponsored by Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps. I've made several cards with this Hot Air Balloon digi stamp because I like it so much and it's extremely versatile. I've used it for a lot of different types of cards. Today's card is a birthday card that will be sent to a dear friend in New York. Why don't you try this sketch out for yourself and see what you can come up with? I really enjoyed making this card! Thank you so much for stopping by today and may the Lord richly bless your day. Today's Treasure: John 6:44-51.

Now for the story making this card: You'd never know that while I was coloring it using Gamsol, I was trying to pour it out of the container with a foam top because I couldn't get the foam top off to put the liquid in my jar that I use. While gently, at least what I thought was gently, the entire 4 ounce jar of Gamsol busted open and splattered everywhere, including saturating my image that I had just colored! I was bummed out. Solvent splattering is not a good thing and I was afraid I'd have to redo my image. Well, nothing really happened to it. There were some spots where the Gamsol didn't splatter so I figured why not make the entire image evenly covered with Gamsol! I wiped some up onto the image and then took it out back to dry, and all was well. My blending stumps are still out back drying and we'll see how that goes.

Stamps: Hot Air Balloon by Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps, Stampin' Up! Sincere Salutations
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Marina Mist, Whisper White, Neenah Solar White
Designer Paper: Echo Park Sweet Summertime
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Prismacolor pencils
Accessories: Button from craft supply, Stampin' Up! Hemp Twine, Rose Red brads, Bigz XL Tasteful Trim die-cut
Technique: Odorless mineral spirits with blending stumps
Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2
Challenge: The Sweet Stop Sketch 71

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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PSALM 95:3

The Lord is a Great God,

and a Great King above all gods.

This verse, Psalm 95:3, probably doesn't mean too much to you, but it means my life to me. On everything I'm involved in within the crafting industry, this verse is out there, such as on this blog at the very top. God (note capital 'G') who is a Great God and Great King, and who is also ABOVE all 'g' (note the little 'g') gods. There is only ONE GOD, ONE FAITH, and ONE TRUTH, which is in Christ Jesus and His Salvation. Bottom line. Period. End of story. That's it. I've had so many little 'g' gods in my life and still do, but there's one god that had me in a bondage that I never thought that I could get out of, and I couldn't get out of it, at least not by myself. God revealed to me how great he was on May 8, 2004. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit on that day and was delivered from my bondage god, much like Egypt was delivered from slavery, because I was a slave to this god as well. It dictated my life. It doesn't dictate my life anymore. Jesus dictates my life. I was in full rebellion like the Hebrews were when it took them 40 years to make an 11 day journey on foot to their promised land. I took about 7 or so years in my rebellion. God in his mercy and love for me softened my heart so he could show me who he was and when he asked me what I wanted more, I chose him and I was delivered in an instant. Just like that. No turning back. You can see what my god was in my image. I'm not a recovering alcoholic or have that secular label slapped on me that keeps me in yet another type of bondage. I don't spend hours a week in meetings either chain smoking and drinking massive amounts of coffee. I am free. I am delivered. And there's no label attached to that but God's love for me and the power of the Holy Spirit. All of Jesus' children have this power with the Holy Spirit indwelling within their hearts.

If you want to talk to me about a type of bondage that you feel that you're in or are serving the wrong god, it's easy to contact me, and I pray that you do. I am not judgmental whatsoever. I'm the poster child for rebellion! Chances are, I've been where you're at, but I've been redeemed by the blood and I want to share that with you too! That is my testimony to you about what the blood of Christ can and will do for you. Ask. Believe. Have faith. Surrender it to him. He's only too glad to take it from you and he WANTS to take it from you.

The Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge Birthday Blog Hop starts at the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge Blog. You can also find the blog hop order there too. If you arrived here from Ceal Prtichett's blog, you're in the right place. We have so much to offer you in prizes and fun with our birthday blog hop, but most importantly, we want to share Jesus with you. That is our prayer and heart's desire. After visiting me, please hop on over to see what Laurie Gatton's Ministering Hands has created for you. Thank you so much for participating with us on our special day and God bless.

Here's the products used in my card, which are all Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Studio Sketches
Card Stock: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, textured Rich Razzelberry, textured Old Olive
Designer Paper: Taste of Textiles
Ink: Tea Stain Distressing Ink, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, So Saffron, Perfect Plum, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Marina Mist, More Mustard
Accessories: School Days Rub-Ons, Mini Vintage Tags, Sizzix Distressed Texturz Plate, Victoria Lace ribbon, Vintage Trinkets, die-cuts
Technique: Distressing, die-cutting, dry embossing, tearing
Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2

Now I have some blog candy for you. Leave a comment by Saturday, August 21, midnight, Central Time. I'll draw your a name left from the comments and will announce it on next Sunday's Stampin' Sisters in Christ post here on my blog. I have Verve Notes of Prayer stamp set and Stampin' Up! God's Beauty. I also ask that you follow my blog too.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Good Monday morning! I realize it's the middle of August, but I wanted to make a fall card for today's Paper Maniac, Paper Inspirations Design Team card. Our theme this week is to make a Nestabilities-shaped card, so I thought that this pumpkin would be cute. I used the new Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland paper and was very pleasantly surprised when I stamped my pumpkin image onto the paper and then colored it in using Copic markers layering my three colors. Normally on designer paper, the markers would bleed. To top it off, I used Twinklng H20s which require water, and still no bleeding. So, this is pretty good stuff!

I hope that this card provides you with some inspiration. It was very fun for me to make. I'll see you next week with a new theme and more Paper Maniac Inspiratons! God bless and have a great day. Today's Treasure: Philippians 4:6-7.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Autumn Harvest
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Basic Black
Designer Paper: Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Stampin' Up! 1/2" Lace Trim, Scallop punch, Aqua Painter, Spellbinders Nested Pumpkins, Twinkling H20s, Making Memories Brown Ledger Tiny Alphas Stickers
Technique: Paper piercing
 

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To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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Good morning everybody and I pray that your Sunday is going well before, during, and after church; and also when you participate in today's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 52. Tomorrow is our very first birthday and we'd love for you to join in our Birthday Blog Hop. ALL of the Stampin' Sisters Design Team members, past and current, are participating and I think that's such a treat and so will you!

Our sponsor today is DeeDee Anderson, who is the owner of DeeDee's Digis,whom we would like to thank for her generosity to support us. Today our verse is Proverbs 17:22, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." I think the verse is pretty self-explanatory. We've all also heard that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. Have you ever seen facial wrinkles point upwards? No. They always point downwards. In our daily busyness, we don't take the time to smell the roses anymore. I even have to schedule in pool time where I multitask there too and pray, if I don't fall asleep because I don't go to bed until 1-2 a.m. because I'm working all of the time on this, on card making that started as a hobby and now I feel like I'm in bondage to it and I am frankly. You get caught up in having the latest of everything that is changing daily of what's hot and what's not, It's insane really. Not to mention expensive! Do I really need to be on 7 different design teams? When and if I finally do make it to the pool, I call it my "prayer pool." That's not good enough though. That's squeezing God into my schedule. That means somewhere I need to lighten up my load, and I'm working on it, and make God THE priority in my life again. Without the Lord as number one, your spirit breaks because you are not communing with him. While your spirit dries up, everything else has a tendency to follow suit. You get sick, you get depressed, you don't want to get out of bed in the morning, every day is the same, and on and on and on. We all need to slow down and find our joy in Jesus again who will give us a merry heart. This has also interrupted my study time and spending time at church with my brothers and sisters in Christ because I have a deadline to meet somewhere. This is not the way that God wants any of us to live. Glorifying God through your work shouldn't be a job. It should come from a merry heart. I invite you to spend some time this week asking God for direction in your life of what can go, what needs to stay, how to manage time better, and most importantly, make the time for Jesus this week and let him fill your spirit afresh and new daily. Spend time with him and in the Word, and you'll get your joy back and your merry heart.

Today's challenge to you is to make something with some humor in it; something on the lighter side. This should be very easy because I'm praying we'll all have lighter hearts today.

All products used are Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Morning Cup, Favorite Thoughts
Card Stock: Stampin' Up! Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory
Designer Paper: Elegant Soiree
Ink: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Neutral brads, Metallic brads, Ticket punch, Chantilly Lace, Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Big XL Die, Blender Pen
Technique: Die-cutting
Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2
Challenge: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 52

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Please become my friend through Google Friend Connect. I am always blessed by your support and comments!

To purchase Stampin' Up! products, please visit Stampin' Up! With Cindy.

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