Hello Birdie {Unity Stamp Company}

I am thrilled to be able to sneak into this week's Unity blog hop!
Although I am not technically a part of the Unity Design Team, I am one of Unity's Artistas...so I was able to squeeze my way in. :o)

I am so excited to share my cards with you today. To create them, I used a new stamp kit that I created (Hello Birdie) - available from Unity Stamp Company.

During this weekend's sale, you can get the new "Hello Birdie" stamp kit FREE with a $60 purchase...not to mention the free sentiment stamps you will get with every $10 you spend.

("Hello Birdie" will be available for purchase after the sale is over.)

Don't forget: for today's blog hop, Unity is giving away two great prize packages! Be sure to leave a comment on each blog in the hop (including the Unity blog) to be entered to win. (The winners will be announced Monday night on the Unity blog.)

Continue hopping on through to the Unity blog, and then go shopping!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock (Brilliant White 130#);
Patterned Paper: American Crafts (Dear Lizzy - 5th & Frolic 6x6);
Stamps: Unity Stamp Company (Hello Birdie);
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Honeydew); 
Colored Pencils: Prang;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

Adventures in Bible art & journaling :: Week 7

Here are the pages from week 7 of my Bible art & journaling adventure:

I have been thinking about Easter lately, and this was a quote (adapted from the Exultet) that my husband and I printed up and gave out at Easter last year:

This one was inspired by a Psalm that was referenced in a lesson at church:

Obviously, this was a pretty sparse week as far as Bible journaling goes...but that's how life is sometimes. 

Now, to get back to it...

Thanks for dropping by today!

Find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling here.

Supplies: Bible: Zondervan (NASB Note-taker's Bible);
Colored Pencils: Prang (various colors); Pens: ZIG (Millennium); Sakura (Pigma Micron); Sharpie (Pen.);

Book Review :: Easter Stories and Prayers (Little Blessings) by Kathleen Long Bostrom, illustrated by Elena Kucharik

Easter Stories and Prayers (Little Blessings) is a padded hardcover book containing 4 stories regarding topics surrounding the Easter season. It is written by Kathleen Long Bostrom and includes illustrations by Elena Kucharik. 

Easter Stories and Prayers is a compilation of 4 (previously separately released) Little Blessings books: 

• Why is There a Cross?
• Who is Jesus?
• What is Prayer?
• What About Heaven?

Each of the 4 books included in Easter Stories and Prayers is written in rhyme. The stories are very sweet, and can lead to some great discussion with young children. Quite a few of the pages in each story have Scripture references in the upper corner of the page, so you can read the referenced verses and take these topics a bit farther. The books are each about 25-35 pages long (including illustrations). I have seen some of the illustrations from these books in other Little Blessings books that we own, but that didn't make this compilation any less special.

With four sweet books in one for under $8 retail, Easter Stories and Prayers is a great value. A perfect addition to any Easter basket!

FTC Declaration: Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book. This does not change the fact that I will give my honest opinion in my reviews.

Just Believe Card

For this card I stuck with some of the supplies I had used in other recent cards, but used a different card design and also added that wood veneer piece (colored with two colors of Color Shine):

I just can't get enough of that Flea Market collection! Love the colors and style.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Harvest Gold); 
Vellum: Papertrey Ink (Vellum);
Patterned Paper: American Crafts - Crate Paper (Maggie Holmes - Flea Market);
Other: (Wood Veneer - Bird);
Mists: Heidi Swapp (Color Shine);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board); Tim Holtz (Tiny Attacher);

Adventures in Bible art & journaling :: Week 6

If you love my Bible art, you just might love my stamps!

Please stop by and check them out.

Here are the pages from week 6 of my Bible art & journaling adventure:

This first one was inspired by a lesson at church. (Although the actual wording is from Luke 6, I drew this on the page that shows James 3 in my journaling Bible. I just felt like it all went together.)

This next one either was inspired by me just going through the Psalms or from our family reading time...I can't remember which. Either way, I love the word picture that Psalm 19 gives:

This next one was inspired by a DVD that the kids and I were watching.
(What's In The Bible?, by the Veggie Tales creator, Phil Vischer...if you were curious.)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling here.

Supplies: Bible: Zondervan (NASB Note-taker's Bible);
Colored Pencils: Prang (various colors);
Pens: Sakura (Pigma Micron);

Book Review :: Lucado Treasury of Bedtime Prayers by Max Lucado and Denalyn Lucado, illustrated by Lisa Alderson

The Lucado Treasury of Bedtime Prayers is a large, 160 page book with a padded hardcover. Inside, the pages are filled with prayers, poems, and verses perfect for a variety of times in the day and a variety of situations. 

The writings are divided up as follows:

• Good Morning, God
• God, You Are Great!
• My Family and Friends
• In My Play and Through My Day
• My Mealtime Prayers
• God Takes Care of Me
• Teach Me, God
• Prayers for Special Days
• Thank You, God!
• Good Night, God

Many of the prayers are written (or adapted) in rhyme, so they would be easy for children (or anyone) to memorize. The prayers come from a variety of sources, traditional and modern. (There are prayers from sources such as the Psalms and other Scriptures, St. Francis of Assisi, and, of course, Max & Denalyn Lucado.) Many of the prayers do not follow the traditional "Dear God, ... Amen." prayer format, which makes the selections in the book very versatile, in my opinion. 

There are a lot of prayers/poems in this book. (For example, the first section, "Good Morning, God", has 21 prayers spread over 13 pages.) Most of the pages have 2 prayers per page. The writings are accented with beautifully done illustrations by Lisa Alderson. 

All in all, I think the Lucado Treasury of Bedtime Prayers is a great book to have on hand and a great resource to reference at any time of the day or for any situation. 

FTC Declaration: The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. This does not change the fact that I will give my honest opinion in my reviews.

Book Review :: The Beginner’s Bible Come Celebrate Easter Sticker And Activity Book by Kelly Pulley

The Beginner’s Bible Come Celebrate Easter Sticker And Activity Book is a 16 page activity book with an insert of over 50 reusable stickers. The pages in this activity book are full-color (with the exceptions of the images that are intended to be colored in by the child). 

The age range listed for this activity book is 4-8 years, but in my opinion, several of the activities bring the age range down. I would say this would work best for 4-6 year olds. There are a range of activities such as:

• basic coloring
• tracing basic words/numbers
• connect-the-dots (numbers 1-12)
• a simple maze
• matching stickers to the outlines on the pages
• color-by-number
• a simple word search

The pages in The Beginner’s Bible Come Celebrate Easter Sticker And Activity Book each have a different theme, following the life of Jesus. 

Beside the fact that I think this activity book is mis-labeled age-wise, I was very impressed at what you can get for under $4 retail. The full-color pages are fun to look at even without the activities, and the activities and stickers just add to the fun. I think that The Beginner’s Bible Come Celebrate Easter Sticker And Activity Book is a great value and would be a great addition to any little one's Easter basket. 

FTC Declaration: The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. This does not change the fact that I will give my honest opinion in my reviews.

Hello Eclectic Card

I've had this card partially finished for quite awhile. I wanted to try my hand at the "eclectic" style and loved how it was coming along...but adhering that die cut was holding me up. (I was just nervous about getting glue all over the card instead of under the die cut where it belonged.)

It all was okay in the end, and I love how the card turned out:

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Rustic Cream, Harvest Gold); 
Patterned Paper: American Crafts - Crate Paper (Maggie Holmes - Flea Market);
Dies: My Favorite Things (Happy Hellos Die); 
Other: (Vintage Seam Binding);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board); 

Adventures in Bible art & journaling :: Week 5

Here are the pages from week 5 of my Bible art & journaling adventure:

The first two pages were inspired by what we read at our family Bible reading time:

I can't remember what exactly lead me to Psalm 15, but the Psalms always seem to be a great place to go:

This one was inspired by a lesson my brother-in-law gave on the beatitudes - they seem so simple, yet the wording can be confusing...but the point of it all is: God cares for you.

For this one I wanted to show (literally) the 99 sheep and the 1 lost sheep.
(That's a lot of little sheep to draw!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling here.

Supplies: Bible: Zondervan (NASB Note-taker's Bible);
Colored Pencils: Prang (various colors);
Pens: Sakura (Pigma Micron);

Hello Card

Well...it's been awhile since I have shared a card here, so I thought it was time to come back and say 'Hello' to card making:

This is a simple one to get back into the swing of things, but I love how it turned out. I've been doing a lot of crafting lately and have much more to come...soon. 

Stay tuned!

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Rustic Cream); 
Vellum: Papertrey Ink (Vellum);
Patterned Paper: American Crafts - Crate Paper (Maggie Holmes - Flea Market);
Dies: Serendipity Stamps (Hello Die);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board); Tim Holtz (Tiny Attacher);