We Give Thanks

It's that time of year again.

The time of year where we begin to reflect on all of the things that have happened

in our lives. We think about the ones we love and those who love us.

We take more time to think about how God has blessed us and what we can do

to thank Him and bless others in return. 

I know that money is something many of us do not have nor do we
enjoy talking about. We don't have a fancy home or brand new cars.
We barely get by on my husbands salary alone.
BUT I can say that I am RICHLY blessed.
I have a home that is warm and happy and filled with love.
I have a pantry and freezer full of food to cook for my family.
We have clothes to wear and a place to wash and dry them.
I have all of this and so much more. 

I know that there are many things I would like to do for my family and friends, 

but can't because we don't have the money to do so....

but in reality, what others want more than THINGS is love. 

Your time. Prayer. A phone call. A card in the mail. A hug. A moment.

Something real. Real emotion. True compassion. Not just sympathy, but Empathy

 for those who are hurting. 

 I encourage you to do more of that this year. 

I know I am going to try to do so myself. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next two cards I am going to share with you are all 

about GIVING THANKS

The new challenge at Freshly Brewed Challenges is just that. 

Give Thanks. 

There is nothing greater to 

 give thanks for than the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Nativity Digital Stamp

Praise Thy Glorious Name Sentiment

I colored this image using prismacolor pencils. 

I am not great at coloring with them, but really do like the softness of the colors and how

it turned out. I hope you do too. 

NEW DIGIS AT FRESH BREWED DESIGNS

The Nutcracker, Holly Stocking, Little Christmas Ballerina

Nativity, The Greatest Gift - Jesus, Praise Thy Name Sent

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Next is the new challenge at WAW:

Word Art Wednesday #159

our word art this week is free for you to save and use on 

your creations. You are not required to use it for this challenge. 

Read all of the rules and requirements on the blog >HERE<

this card was completely created using scraps from my scrap pile!

I kept the layers flat so that it would be easy to mail out. 

I hope to see you play along in these challenges and I hope

you are encouraged by all of these  challenges and posts. 

I know I am. 

Have a blessed day, 

                              Heather

challenges:

The card concept: Krafty Christmas 

Love to Create: Christmas

Simon Says Mon: STAR
Simon Says Wed - Thanks

Word Art Wednesday: Give Thanks

I just spent a few days at my granny's house. 

We visited with her, my aunt, uncle, and a little boy that lives in the neighborhood 

nicknamed Little Man. My son loves playing with this kid. :-)

They go to rope swings, play basketball, run around the woods .. you name it! 

Things my son never gets to do at home. 

My daughter and I sag on the porch and chatted with everyone. We

laughed and talked and had a really good time. Granny cooked us dinner on Monday.

We ate mustard greens, cornbread, pinto beans, turkey breast, real mashed potatoes, 

and corn. It was SOOOO GOOD!!! It was so nice to just be there and relax.

The leaves had not all fallen from the trees yet. We got to see lots of pretty colors. 

We also got to rake up the ones that had fallen all over granny's yard. 

It helped build up our appetites for her wonderful meal and made us feel good

at the same time. 

This week's scripture is all about giving thanks. 

I don't think I have to go into much detail about how thankful I am

for the last few days I have had. They were wonderful and God blessed us so much!

WORD ART WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE #158

And here are a few photos from our trip:

Thank you for stopping by. 

I hope you have a beautiful and blessed day

Heather 

Give Thanks - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Good Morning!

It is time for a few new challenges that I am sure you will all love!!!

First up, it is time for a new WORD ART WEDNESDAY Challenge. 

There is no Word Art today, but the prize is amazing! You can play along

to win a $15 gift card to Our Daily Bread Designs 

Next up, we have a new Freshly Brewed Challenge for you!

The Challenge: PUMPKIN PATCH

We want to see all of your pumpkins!!!

Here is a CAS card I created for this challenge:

Fresh Brewed Digital Sentiment: GIVE THANKS

The try a new technique challenge at SCS is to use a pencil eraser.

The instructed to use the end of an eraser, cut into an eraser, 

the options were endless... then stamp with it. 

I chose to cut one out and make an image that looked similar

to a pumpkin. I then stamped it into tim holtz distress ink: lipstick, 

I drew around the edges with gold smooch then took a black 

pigment pen and traced around the images. 

Thank you for stopping by.

I do hope you have a very blessed and happy day!

{{HUGS}} and [SMILES]

Heather

UPCOMING FBD  EVENTS:

So Thankful

 This week at Freshly Brewed Challenges we are celebrating with a SO THANKFUL theme. 

If you have not checked out our blog candy, go check out this post to find out how you can win. There's just over  a week left to enter, so don't wait!!!

For my card I chose to create with the Pumpkin Latte digital stamp. 

I was so good! I used ALL scraps for this card. I even found the leaf paper piece in my scrap pile, 

already cut to the specifications I needed! Woot woot!

The inside has a printed sentiment I received in an email this morning from BeFreeForMe.com. 

(here is a bunch of gobbly gook that really is not necessary to read, I am just thinking 'out loud' so to speak and having one of those 'I am talking too much' moments :))

I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends who have been posting on facebook every day the things they are thankful for. I smile and think, most of the time, that I am thankful for those very same things. I may not have a lot when it comes to earthly possessions. I do not have a huge house that is decorated beautifully like something out of Better Homes and Gardens inside. I do not have fancy dishes or perfectly painted walls. What I do have is walls covered in putty where my husband is patching up holes, but has now been waiting weeks to sand and finish patching so he can paint. I have blue silly string stuck to the ceiling in a few areas of the house thanks to SPIDER MAN (my son). I have red and gray and other colored marks down the walls where the kids have thrown toys, tossed balls, flown helicopters, and more to create the master piece that I get to look at daily. I have really shiny laminate wood flooring throughout the house, except one section that is NEW but NOT Shiny (weird, huh) where we had to replace the flooring when the fridge decided to secretly pee under it causing a mess a year or so back. You can see the difference as you walk down the hall into the kitchen as the sun shines in the window. :D  I have a table that one of its legs are broken and bolted in that I got at a yard sale. When the kids are coloring or working on their schoolwork it creaks and almost whistles as they erase or write. Sometimes it is annoying, lol but I LOVE because it has a varnish over the top that the kids can paint on and do whatever they please on that table and I can wash it! (well, it still has some Aleens ok to wash it stuck on it ... but that is my fault ;). I could go on and on about these things I do sometimes complain about... but I won't drive you crazy. I just wanted to share and say that I know when it is looked on by others, they may be thinking "wow, she really doesn't have a lot" and I do sometimes get embarrassed if I know someone is coming over, but I quickly put myself back in check. I have SO much more than I could ever begin to list here. I have so many wonderful things in my home - new, broken, creaky, scratched....  but that is not what matters. I have the MOST LOVE that I could ever imagine having. I have wonderful friends who make me smile. I have a supportive, LOVING, honest, giving, selfless, big ol huggy warm family. Each and every one of them makes up a part of who I am. My mom, dad, husband, kids, sister, brother, grannys, papaws, cousins, aunts, uncles... I could go on and on (and have been) but THAT is what matters. Everything in my heart. All of THOSE treasures can not be replaced. I thank God every day for the people he has placed in my life and I am doing all I can to pray and stay close to them until we can all be together in heaven when our Father calls us home.

Sorry for this long and drawn out post. I know I am mostly just writing a journal entry to myself, but it has felt good to share and talk about.

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I know you can still celebrate being thankful and I hope you will take the time to tell someone special that you are thankful for them, even if they already know it. Sometimes it is just good to hear it :)

BIG SMILES AND HUGE HUGS!!!

Heather

I appreciate you.

FBD RUBBER STAMP:  SURPRISE

We have a new challenge going on at Freshly Brewed Challenges. 

We are asking you to share your Thank you / Appreciation cards with us. 

I know you will have SOMETHING to make because Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, teacher appreciation ... or perhaps your neighbor came over and brought you some soup when you were not feeling well, helped you out in your yard or something like that. 

We all have someone we can send a little Thank  You to.

Now don't forget, FBD is having a NEW DIGI RELEASE on MONDAY MAY 14 and

we are releasing NEW RUBBER STAMPS on May 19-21 (a weekend release)

You will not want to miss out on all of the fun we have planned!!! 

Thank You!

Good Morning!

We have lots of fun things going on at FBD lately. 

If you have not stopped by for November you have missed over 30 new digis, giveaways, challenges, blog candy and more! TODAY we have a featured post and special giveaway... 

but you have to stop by HERE to know the full deets :D

I have something fun to share with you today. 

My daughter dances, as most of you know, but this year she is also in Show Choir.

She absolutely LOVES it!!! 

Well, the instructors worked so hard with the young and older kids, I wanted to make something special for them. I decided to try something new and created this card / gift/ autograph book for the kids to pass around and sign and give to their teachers.  I colored the digi to match what the kids were wearing the night of the performance to give  it that extra touch of 'special'.

Thank YOU for stopping by today. 

I hope you have a wonderful, bright, cheerful and blessed Monday!

Challenges for this card:  

Cupcake Craft - Two's Company, Corrosive Challenges -  Give Thanks , Allsorts - Black White and one other, Challenge Up Your Life - Friendship, My Sheri Crafts   Be Thankful, Rogue Redhead Designs Dress down only one designer paper, Card Makin' Mamas - thankful, Crafty Catz  use a digital image, Fashionista Friday - try something new, Fussy and Fancy - 2W - be thankful and feature a sentiment, 

Thanks!

Good morning!

I have a card to share with you that I have had ready for DAYS just no time to post it. 

I won this stamp during the House Mouse Birthday hop celebration and just fell in love with it!

It reminds me of my sister, brother and I sitting together and reading. Well, I would have been mad and biting or hitting my brother, he would have been playing and trying to irritate me so I would play with him (until I hurt him and got in trouble) and Becky would have sat there crying. :D LOL!!!!!

OK, anyway, this card is for my mom.

She is always doing so much for all of us. Always there to listen and give advice when we need it. She is my best friend and I love her so much!!!

OK, to the card. I created this card using the HM rubber stamp: Tall Tales. The papers are PTI Kraft and MME Asparagus Stack. The ribbon, flower, and buttons were a RAK from my friend Vanessa a while back (I hoard, you all know this!) and the image was colored using prismacolor markers

THANK YOU! for stopping by today!

I hope you have a beautiful and blessed weekend.

Challenges:

House Mouse and Friends: Thankful, city crafter: thanks, Make it Monday - Kraft: Thanks, addicted to stamps: shabby or vintage, Pile it on: Thanks, Card Makin' Mamas - 2W, 2E, cards only - thankful, Fussy and Fancy - 2W - be thankful and feature a sentiment, Our Craft Lounge - SIO - once upon a time, Forever Friends - M, SIO, must include an animal - (November) Something old, Something new (ends 30th Nov) (OLD, Paper, NEW, Stamp,

FBChallenge and Image Release Day

Hi everyone!

Today is the day of the new Freshly Brewed challenge as well as a
Fresh Brewed Designs new image release.

Today I released a few new Angel Cake images to the shop.
I hope you will get the chance to stop by and check them out.

Here is a card set I created using one of the newest Angel Cakes called
Angel Cake Fall Wagon

Challenges: ICS Sketch

All cards are entered into these challenges:
The Pink Elephant: Kids
Spoon Full of Sugar: Sparkle and shine
Digital Tuesday: Ribbons, buttons, and / or bling
Crafty Ho's: Children's Cards
Stamp, Scrap, Doodle: Anything goes
Flutterby Wednesday: anything goes with angel, butterfly or fairy
Fab n Funky Digi
Creative Belli Numbers (scripture verse)

For all three cards I used orange American Craft cardstock, green corrugated cardboard, houndstooth cuttle bug folder, Cricut Cart ~ Stretch your Imagination (pumpkin), old brads from years old stash, RAKed ribbon, prismacolor markers, white doodle pen, glossy accents, stardust stickles, and a dark brown doodle pen.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your day is blessed beyond measure.
Take time today to look around you at all the things God has created for you and thank him. He deserves it!!!