Masterpiece Monday is the day where I share some of our designer artwork featuring Layers of Color art stamps. Today I’m showing you a few magnificent samples of two of our new release stamp sets, Merci Bouquet and Her Majesty’s Urns. Enjoy these delightful examples and then please visit the stamp set galleries of Merci Bouquet and Her Majesty’s Urns where you’ll find more inspiration!

Merci Bouquet and Her Majesty's Urns Artwork

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Merci Bouquet Friend' Merci Bouquet art stamp set

Merci Bouquet Friend' detail - Merci Bouquet art stamp set

Merci Bouquet Friend' detail - Merci Bouquet art stamp set

 

 

 

 

 

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I like to share the stories behind creating the stamp designs, the story behind these wonderful stamps is simply my love of gardening and bringing flowers inside to arrange and enjoy for days. I’m always on the lookout for fabulous and affordable urns, (which, as you’ve probably found out, are hard to find, so when I do it’s a treasure). And I really wanted some delicate flower stamps that I could use to make  French toile-style backgrounds and borders. I’ll show how to do this technique soon, as I’ll be featuring both these sets all week.

But on December 3rd we’ll have a special day set aside to give you some delightful examples of the Three French Hens from the 3rd day of the 12 Days of Christmas that we’re celebrating with a very special blog! Come back on December 3rd to find out more!

"Sanctified" by Linda Lucas

Sanctified
by MercyMe

Let there be no condemnation for all who are fully known in Christ.
Unspeakable grace for all the nations, by way of holy sacrifice.
We worship with the sound
of broken shackles falling to the ground.

[chorus] Sanctified i have been set free, grace divine has swept me off my feet.

No greater love has ever been known,
than He who came to find the lost.
No greater sacrifice has been shown,
than He who laid upon the cross.
Let all creation sing,
for He has come and He’s changed everything.

[chorus] Sanctified i have been set free, grace divine has swept me off my feet.

And i know that i will never be the same.

[chorus] Sanctified i have been set free, grace divine has swept me off my feet.

This is my second Faith Art Friday. A day of the week set aside to ponder the connection between The Creator, and us as artists who create. And a day to create art just for the purpose of glorifying God.

But Friday, only five minutes away as I write this, is after a long two days of joyous cooking and family times during the Thanksgiving holiday. So here I am, it’s late and I promised I would share, but my creations have been eaten tonight and I’m overdue for sleep. How fitting then that God should point me to this excerpt to share with you right now…

With God’s help set realistic expectations. God deserves our best efforts, but does God expect us to perform perfectly? Of course not. Can God use something or someone that is imperfect? Can He use a song that is sung or played imperfectly? Of course He can. The major source of frustration in my life stems from me walking into situations with expectations that are unreasonable and too high. Psalm 62:5 tells us, “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him” (KJV). Our expectations need to come from God. We need to give our expectations over to Him and exchange them for what He expects, not what we expect. While we might be expecting artistic perfection, that might be the furthest thing from God’s mind. Try to keep the big picture in mind. God cares about all the details of our artistic endeavors, but He’s also in the business of saving souls. What’s more important? That our efforts come off perfectly or that God’s name be praised and that lost people come to know Him through our ministry? Try to keep things in His perspective.

If God doesn’t demand perfection, what does He expect? He expects us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him (Mic. 6:8). God expects us to grow spiritually. The end result is His responsibility. Our job is to cooperate with the process. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect (the end product), when God is more concerned with the process (that we walk humbly with Him).

So what’s realistic to expect when we minister for God? Every time we use our gifts for Him, we need to go into it wanting to do the best we can but trusting God’s will to be done, not our self-centered, lofty expectations to be met. People look at the outside and expect the appearance of perfection, but God looks at our hearts (1Sam. 16:7). He looks at the inside, at our motives and intentions. We can control our motives and how prepared we are to minister with our talents. We simply have to do our best and trust God for the result He wants.

From , “The Heart of the Artist” , by Rory Noland

My hope is that your Thanksgiving was special and continues to be throughout this holiday weekend! May you give it all to God and praise Him for all He’s given you!

The artist’s story behind Granny’s Jewelry art stamp set…

Ever since my talented friend Heather made an incredibly beautiful gift for me that was decorated with costume jewelry, I’ve been looking for some to put on my artwork. She got hers at the dollar store, but my dollar store didn’t have any. And on I searched from thrift stores to E-bay. But all I could find were baubles that were much too pricey to stick to a card. Granny’s Jewelry stamp set is where I ended my search! They say that necessity is the seed of invention, (or something like that, LOL!) I spent hours researching vintage jewelry then sat down at the drawing table and created classic pieces that now I can use to adorn my cards and crafts to my heart’s content!

Today I’ll share more ideas on using this unique stamp set so you too can make your own custom sparkling trinkets!

Stamp with metallic ink, like Brilliance on black card stock and add gemstones and pearls. If the sticky doesn’t  work from the back of the gems, (which is often the case) I use the tip of a pin to dab on a touch of glue, pick up the stone and place it where I want it.

Gold metallic emboss stamping on black card stock with added rhinestones or nail bling.

Two stamp designs are stamped together with silver metallic embossing powder, then pearls with flat backs and colored Stickles glitter glue is mounded up to look like a precious jewel in the centers. Stickles by Ranger is the best glitter glue for mounding and they have a large range of colors. The newest colors in their designer series are soft romantic shades. I could totally see my Grandma wearing something like this. Imagine what a beautiful touch it would be on a card for your Grandmother!

Stamped with gold metallic embossing powder on ivory card stock with varied sized flat back pearls. I also chose to cut this one out, including in between the wings and placed it on foam tape to give it “flight”.

I LOVE copper! So this one is embossed with copper metallic embossing powder and cut out. The royal purple glitter glue is Stickles and the amber jewels are stick-on rhinestones.

VersaFine Onyx Black ink with rhinestones on a metal edged tag.

The hole on this tag is decorated with Granny’s Jewelry stamped in purple hue pearlescent embossing powder then flat rhinestone stickers were placed around the design. Flat rhinestone stickers are hard to capture in photographs, but believe me, this is a delicate, sparkling and easy effect.

This remembrance ribbon stamp can be stamped with pink ink, as it is here, or yellow for remembering our American troops. This example has flat rhinestone stickers.

If you’re fresh out of gemstones, or you want a very specific color to match your project, then here’s an idea for creating treaures like this  bee-jeweled ornament…Color in the jewel areas with colored marker or pencil and cover each spot with Glossy Accents. You can try other dimensional glues, but I found that this one is not runny and mounds just like a jewel would. The tri-jewels are stamped with black ink and accented with copper Stickles glitter glue.

For fun and really dazzling effects, try stamping all over with metallic ink, like Brilliance, and coloring in the spots with multiple colors of Stickles glitter glue. Stamp them in a row, or all around a curved edge for a necklace look!

You can use card sentiments like, “You’re a Gem!”, You’re One of a Kind”, You’re Dazzling Darling!” “Pearls of Wisdom for your Birthday…”, “You’re a Treasure!”,…and I’m sure you can think of many more thoughtful gems to add to your cards and layouts.

Imagine this jewelry adorning your romantic and vintage art, adding pearls of beauty to your shabby chic lovelies, putting on the glitz for your hip projects, or blessing someone special with bling.

Any questions, or if you want to share your creative ideas with Granny’s Jewelry, please let me know! Please visit the Granny’s Jewelry art gallery for more beautiful bling ideas with this stamp set.

May God sprinkle your day with jewels of joy!

LOL! That tile makes me laugh! I’m featuring three stamp sets this week, and the names are too long to write all of them completely in the title so I shortened them. I like the silliness of how it worked out!  Masterpiece Monday is the day where I share some of our designer artwork featuring Layers of Color art stamps. Today I’m showing you a few magnificent samples of three of our new release stamp sets, Granny’s Jewelry, Flutterescent and Flowering Gems. After getting a yummy taste of these wonderful ideas, please head on over to the galleries to see the rest of the fabulous artwork!

MM Granny's Flutterescent Gems

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Laura's medallion - Granny's Jewelry art stamp set

Laura's card - Granny's Jewelry art stamp set

Linda's card - Granny's Jewelry art stamp set

Linda's card - detail - Granny's Jewelry art stamp set

Laura's card - Detail - Flutterescent art stamp set

Patter's card - Flutterescent art stamp set

Linda's card - Flutterescent art stamp set

Linda's card - detail - Flutterescent & Gothic Crosses art stamp sets

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Adding bling to cards and artwork is hot right now!

These stamp sets are perfect for adding sparkle, in fact two of them are specifically designed for bling! Granny’s Jewelry and Flowering Gems are what I have named, “Gemstone it!” sets! The stamp designs have varied-sized circles in the perfect spots for adding gemstones, glitter, pearls, clear dots, decorative brads, or rhinestone stickers.

Granny’s Jewelry is a very unique and exciting design because it’s created for you to make “jewelry” embellishments for your projects! It’s such fun, you should try it! I designed them after vintage jewelry like my Grandmother would wear. You can make a real jewelry look without the high cost of using actual antiques by stamping with metallic ink, metallic embossing, or Brilliance inks then adding your favorite gemstone options. Try it on dark papers so the paper shows through like the deep recesses of jewelry parts. Cut them out and apply to ribbon as well. And if you’re fresh out of gemstones, try Stickles by Ranger (they build up round like jewels), or color in the dots with markers or colored pencils and cover with clear dots or Glossy Accents by Ranger. So many fun ways to “Gemstone It!” Later this week I’ll show you more examples and how-tos for this dazzling stamp set!

Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s inspiration! Be sure to pop into the Granny’s Jewelry, Flutterescent and Flowering Gems stamp set galleries for more great new ideas!

May God bless your week with sparkling moments of joy!