Musical Mondays ~ 10,000 Reasons

I hope you've heard this one by now. There was one service that I heard it going in, while in, and going out - and I listened every time. One of my favorite worship moments last week was hearing and watching 6,000 people in Georgia worshiping Jesus together. Can't get enough.

Enjoy.

Psalm 103

English Standard Version (ESV)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

² 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

³ 

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

⁴ 

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵ 

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ 

The Lord works righteousness

    and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷ 

He made known his ways to Moses,

    his acts to the people of Israel.

⁸ 

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹ 

He will not always chide,

    nor will he keep his anger forever.

¹⁰ 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

    nor repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ 

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

¹² 

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

¹³ 

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

¹⁴ 

For he knows our frame;^[a]

    he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ 

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ 

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

¹⁷ 

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

¹⁸ 

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ 

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

    and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ 

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

    you mighty ones who do his word,

    obeying the voice of his word!

²¹ 

Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

    his ministers, who do his will!

²² 

Bless the Lord, all his works,

    in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Creative Thursday ~ Stash & Buttons at SOS

This is a fun one! Last day to enter, so if you you have some scrappy time, get 'em in!

Here's my edition of sketch + buttons:

Cousins by Lindsey Krauss. Paper: , Crate Paper, Letters (and Numbers): American Crafts, Heidi Swapp, Making Memories;
Buttons: Maya Road, Wood art: BasicGrey.

The background paper helped me keep it simple, but I'm kind of thinking that I might add a little sumptin' sumptin' before I put it away... 

Anyhow, hop over to SOS - take a look thru all the dt layouts and all those entered; SOS is rockin'!

Photography Friday ~ Now Is The Time To Worship

I snuck into the final worship songs of Easter last weekend - just because.

What a sight.

I'll spare you the details, but I took about 50 no-flash shots with both my camera and my phone and had to do some serious work in PhotoShop to bring this to life. 

This tiny girl, sitting on dad's shoulders, the only one with her hands held high in that worship moment. It's both revealing and comforting to generations before her and generations after. A little thank you to that parent, as he drives her, holds her, teaches her. 

Faith truly is God-given. 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Matthew 5:5 and Psalm 37:11 also came to mind that day: 

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

But the meek will inherit the land
    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Creative Thursday ~ Dots and Stripes at SOS

Another fun challenge is up at Scrap Our Stash! Dots and stripes, birds, butterflies and bees! There are some really cute projects already up over there, so be sure to check out Dots and Stripes to see them all. Here's my layout.

Legos by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Love, Elsie (Toby Go & Claire Powder Puff), Pink Paislee; other; Artisan tape: Pink Paislee; Rub-ons: Crate Paper, Inc.; Letters: VivAmerica, Making Memories; Markers: Sharpie; Other: chipboard button, large butterfly, paper words, ribbon.

Journaling: McKenna, you got this Lego set for your birthday and you were done with it, with very  little help, in just minutes. Maybe it was all those times watching your brother, but you were so proud when you were done, you, too, now have a Lego city in your bedroom.

Dots and stripes! I know, for being such a fan of polka dots, I used remarkably very few. And since the pink paper was so lightly striped, I played with striping in the overall design. I also fought tooth and nail to keep bugs and birds out of my stash so long ago, so I had to look long and hard for some! Imagine my surprise, to come across those perfect Crate Paper butterflies after the layout had been laid out and adhered! The rest is just more stash - rub-ons, some punch-outs, even a chipboard button and its holes. The paper and rub-ons clearly didn't come together, but I love the way they go together.

Truly, I have very few animals in my stash. So I was so pleasantly surprised to find not only green and pink butterflies, but pink and white polka dot rub-ons as well. The rest is just some things I found while fumbling around in my color-coordinated storage. On the right side is a Making Memories sticker (remember those huge monogram letter stickers?) - I cut it so it was an "l", but I love the way it blends in with the green on and around it. The two small green dots in the cluster are, indeed, the holes in the heart button. The purple ribbon was just a tiny scrap I found in my ribbon bucket. I'm not sure who made those word punch-outs (My Mind's Eye?), but they went well on the page, uncut and untouched. Same with the background page; the arrows were busy enough so that paper went untreated as well.

Creative Thursday ~ Mixed Alpha Sketch at SOS

Always love a sketch - especially a sketch by Rochelle Spears at Scrap Our Stash!
We got to use Rochelle's sketch and tried to use up some {mixed}alphas. Not only was my title using up some bits and pieces of orange alphas, but my two tiny chevron in the lower right are actually upside-down "v's" - which I'm guessing is how the whole chevron trend started. :)

McKenna's CYO Basketball by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Flair Designs, WUBE; Letters: Doodlebug Design, Inc., Basic Grey, Heidi Swapp; Felt: Fancy Pants, Rhinestones: Kaiser Craft; Rub-ons: Sassafrass Lass, K&Company, DCWV, Marcella by K; Sticker: My Mind's Eye; 

See more layouts by the design team from this sketch:
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/search/label/mixed%20alphas

to be continued...

Creative Thursday ~ Kraft at SoS

So Scrap Our Stash is back up and better then ever! It's been one of my favorite ideas in scrapbooking, as I have been on almost a complete no-buy for years now. I'm not in this to be famous, I'm in this because it's my preferred art and it will hopefully preserve a few memories. And I certainly have enough stuff already to work with!

So our first challenge was to use 50% kraft and 3+ metal. You know when I hear a challenge like this, I tend to go a little overboard. :) So my layout is about 95% kraft and 5 metal. When I hear kraft, it's more about the raw color to me. So I started by gathering every single kraft item I could find. I wanted to use some naked laser chipboard pieces, but it didn't work this time.
Click for kraft it up label on SOS
Click for my layout on SOS

There is no ink on this layout and the only patterned paper is the outside frame, which I added because the page was a little too boring without it. The brown you see is all rub-on or transparency. Remember those old Heidi Swapp letters? Still love those after all these years... I had actually forgotten the metal, so gathered a few bronze brads and scattered those around. I actually really liked the way this one turned out, and that makes for 4 out of 4 of my last pages monochromatic. Not trying to, I just prefer it right now.

Anyhow, onto the good stuff.

Not Yet Glasses by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey, Graphic 45, Letters: Vivamerica, Corrugated shapes: Jillibean Soup, Chipboard: Junkitz, other, Rub-on: Scrap Within Reach, Frame, Transparency: My Mind's Eye, Brads: Making Memories, Letters: Heidi Swapp.

Where can I go from your Spirit?... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139

Musical Monday ~ You Are by Colton Dixon

So much to praise God for!







Wait - I haven't posted this song yet? I have a million times in my head.
My new turn-it-up-so-loud-and-sing-even-louder-in-the-car song.

Way to go, Colton.

He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen ... Deuteronomy 10:21 .

Scripture Sunday ~ 1 Corinthians

Quite some time ago, Pastor Jarrod spoke on 1 Corinthians. We all know it, or at least have heard it, but this time it hit me with a new, quiet awakening. I'll jot down my notes and then at the end, I'll jot down my conclusion.

Sermon Notes: "Family Glue" (click the link, go to Nov. 18 to download the podcast.)

     The only hope for a family to survive and thrive through any relational challenge, sudden trauma, and/or chronic pain is through unconditional love. 1 Cor. 13:4-7
                                   agape = sacrificial love

Piece #2 (in the Under Construction, Piecing Together a Healthy Family series):

unconditional love

"patience" long-tempered

"kindness" patience in public/in action, useful

"does not envy/jealous" James 4:2

"is not arrogant"

** "is not rude" give vent to feelings, no restraint, family bully ---> love is sensitive to other

** "does not insist on its own way" gives, serves, John 3:16, doesn't pout Phil 2:2-3

** "is not irritable" (no provoked)

"is not resentful" does not keep a record of wrongs

forgives and lets go

"does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the Truth"

elephant in the room

never compromises

vv ACTIVITY vv

"love bears" covering, concealing, protecting, supports, believes faithfulness, trustworthy

no giving up, hopes, choose to believe, joy, optimism, confidence

A wrong done against love is like a spark quenched in the ocean. -Chrysotom  

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

⁸ Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

-------------------

My conclusion:

GOD IS LOVE.

You can substitute "God" in every place that "Love" is written in 1 Corinthians. 

God is patient and kind

God does not envy or boast.

God is not arrogant or rude.

God does not insist on His own way. (I'm thinking human will.)

God is not irritable or resentful. (Sad at sin, maybe, but not these things.)

God does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but God rejoiced in the Truth.

God bears all things, God believes all things, God hopes all things, God endures all things.

Love that. 

Creative Thursday ~ no cameras

I've found that I now take about 80% of my photos with my phone. Occasionally I turn out the iThings, and my camera (finally fixed!) seems to come out for occasions - not necessarily special, but outings. So this month's challenge from XoXo Scrapbooking was to use photographs from anything other than a camera. Lots of fun information over there about editing and apps - go take a look!

Here's one of my favorite pictures off of Instagram, of little McKenna in the cutest outfit. I had originally designed this for SOS (before they shut down to revamp - it's back up, with tons of talent, as I mentioned, and my layout will be up on the 7th!) so I was reaching way into the stash.

Simply Beautiful by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Pink Paislee, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc., Buttons: Junkitz, Glitter: Stickles, Title: My Mind's Eye, Other: Photo Corners, rhinestones, mesh.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8

Tuesday Special - my new wall!

Although I still have trouble saying thank you and feeling proud, I indeed am - mostly because I thought up the project and carried it through 100% on my own! What a pleasant sight when I got to the top of the stairs Sunday morning before church - made me smile!

Here is the finished project (with frames to fill and room to grow)

Want steps? Beginning to end:

1. Find frames. I had the project in my head for months but got very lucky with an amazing sub job with a very nice gal. She happened to bring in two bags of frames she was giving away and I unashamedly scavenged them. She saved me a fortune! 

2. Research. I was pretty sure this wouldn't only be about frames, so I spend a day or two on Pinterest gathering ideas. More to come on that in a bit.

3. Paint frames. Clean glass. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong paint and the wrong brush and that Windex wouldn't work in the long run, but so far, so good. And it's all fixable; more on that also in a bit.

First I used regular old paint I had the scrapbook room (Making Memories); it was a bit old and a little gloppy, which was actually better on the frames. Some of these are wooden, some are metal. I ran out of that paint, so I got a plain black acrylic from Hobby Lobby. Already I can see one frame that will have to be repainted and probably sealed. 

I also gathered up some other frames pieces we had lying around that were given as gifts and never mounted. I painted their frames black and rematted them to match. There is a Mom & Dad poem and a Policeman's Prayer and picture worked in there.

4. I filled those frames! I was fortunate enough to have enough printer paper and ink at home, and a decent photo printer. This kept the cost of this project way down for me. I chose some of our classic pics, some funny, some of our favs, and I even have a few blank ones to fill with those pics "I can't believe I didn't think of!", which should happen sometime next week.

Here is what very little planning I did for this part:

I used white cardstock and posterboard to mat the photos, which are all in black and white. Again, it's probably not the material professional framers would have used, but I'm happy with it so far.

I also have a list of glass that needs to be replaced and am hoping my local glass place will help me out with that.

My table looked like this for a week (I have a very patient family):

5. I bought an over-sized wooden letter "K" and small wooden letters on sale (yay!) at Hobby Lobby as well. Painted those. Tip for painting small spaces: I used one of the kid's watercolor paint brushes, they're a dime a dozen and I wouldn't feel bad if I had to throw them out).

6. Next I took a picture of the space I was filling, measured and taped off sides and angles on the floor in my foyer. It looked like this for 24 hours (I had a surprisingly accident-free family, too):

7. We had monkey hooks and I found the 3M Command wall hangers in WalMart and Hobby Lobby. I wasn't sure I'd trust the Command on the sandy-textured wall, but 2 days later, none of those frames have fallen!

8. I had to take the backs off of most of the frames. I wasn't worried about ruining them because I knew I'd never take them down to use as standing frames ever again. Taking the stands off helped keep the pictures flush to the wall.

9. Ready! Here I go!

Some tools of the trade: monkey hooks, thumbtacks, a level, painter's tape, a flashlight (to see behind the frames when mounting, screwdriver, scissors, Command hooks (up to 2lb, 12lb and 16lb), double-stick mounting tape (some of the backs of the frames were sunken and I used a few layers of double stick to pop the Command strips up), duct tape (reverse rolled up for the small letters); not pictured: a tall chair and a 6 foot ladder. 

Here's a tour of our new wall. :) You'll have to visit in person for the real effect, it does look better in person. :)

Disclaimer: I promise to take new pictures in the morning light and from a ladder as soon as I can. I was too impatient to find a filter for the flash, wait till a free morning, and gain proper height to take these.

small wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, painted black, mounted with reverse
rolled up duct tape (which I think you can see here, but not in reality).

A few of our fav pictures.

bride & groom

family pic from last fall

Pinterest-inspired K; painted black, with a simple
rhinestone cluster trimmed and fit.

Babies in police hats.

Babies in police hats.

This is a Making Memories sticker that I recolored. It fit the tiny frame
perfectly and ended up matching the wall as well. I'm still considering adding
a patterned background for it.

So I just now noticed that the two small frames are opposite -
when the God frame is on top and the verse on the bottom,
the hearts make an hourglass shape. Again, this will be fixed and retaken.
-------------------------
This is a dollar store frame!
This is one of the readings from our wedding - 1 Corinthians.
I just recently realized that it can be literally translated to God is Love
thanks to our Pastor's sermon a few weeks ago.
I'm working on that post for Sunday.

the newborns.
label added with their names and birthdates.

Another Pinterest inspiration. These are the lyrics to
our wedding song written out as a poem. I printed those
out and added our wedding date on top of the glass.
Still searching for the perfect heart embellishment. 

the brothers

the parents
(yes, both of our parents are still together 4+
years later, we're proud!)

one of our newer favorites:
Matthew pinning Doug as his Sergeant's promotion.

Here's how the Command process works, once mounted,
so I can easily edit and fix frames for years to come.

like a super tight velcro, it snaps back in place but pulls off easily.
holding nicely so far!

So there you have it. If I can do it, anyone can!

Creative Thursday ~ 3 in a day!

So a few weekends back, I finally joined Two Scrapbook Friends and just in time for a crop! I ended up getting three pages done on one snowy day here in NY. That hasn't happened in quite a while...

Hunting Season

This is the page I revealed for XoXo's Leftover Valentine post just a few days ago. Go see! We have three brilliant new design team members and of course, the talent that's there normally. Three posts this month!
--

So this one I turned out for Shelby's Twitter challenge (add a bird, keep under 140 characters):

Hunting Season by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Basic Grey, Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket; Sticker: Karen Foster design; Rhinestones: Recollections, Studio 18; Chipboard bird: Maya Road; Flowers: Prima Marketing, Petaloo; Ribbon: Cosmo Cricket; Other: Mulberry paper. 

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Play

This one, I just love, love, love. I've had the photo printed out for months -years?- and finally found somewhere to put it. This was for Christa's bloggerita challenge (scraplift someone - I scraplifted Christa herself here): 

Put Me In Coach by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: A.W.Cute, October Afternoon, American Crafts;
Sticker(s) Letters: The Paper Studio, Websters Pages, Rusty Pickle, American Crafts,
Pink Paislee, Doodlebug Design, Inc., Jillibean Soup; Clipboard: Stampendous; Chipboard: various unknown.

 Blues Clues

And the last one, I was getting a little punchy. I've had this layout barely begun for years. Yes, I said it. Years. All it has was the felt photo negative frame and the five pictures at the bottom. Luckily, I'm pretty organized when it comes to photos on the EHD, so I found the two to add to the top. (History: these photos came from some sort of challenge on -I believe- one of those famous Friday Night Crops at ScrapStreet. Then I just lightly embellished from there. Eh, it's okay; it's done. This was for Jayne's Facebook challenge (choose from a list, I chose close-up photo, journaling, favorite embellishments, tag, 3+ photos, music):

Blues Clues by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, Sassafrass Lass; Sticky Stitches: Colorbok; Tiles: Stickopotomus, Inc.; Letters: White Blossom; Die cut: Pink Paislee; Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc.; Other: felt negative frame.

Journaling: McKenna - October 5, 2008. You loved Blues Clues. You dressed as Blue for Halloween this year!

Tuesday Special ~ Scrap Our Stash - Giveaway A Day!

I have so much to share...had a wonderful weekend full of scrapbooking a few weekends ago, but I just haven't gotten around to showing it off! For now, a new design team, pretty much perfect for me: Scrap Our Stash (SOS). Since I haven't bought any major supplies in quite literally years now, this seemed like a team for me. To kick things off, and to celebrate the merge with IIG, a new look and a new challenge format, SOS is hosting a Giveaway A Day! Please visit SOS every day starting February 25th for details to enter the daily drawings!

http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Special ~ The Bet.

Superbowl ~ SuperBet

So, "brilliant" me bet "my" girls at XoXo Scrapbooking over the big game. I thought we had it. I really did. But we didn't. And then we did. But ultimately, we didn't. I'm proud, but a loser in this bet.

So the challenge was toward another Ravens fan, and the girls got to weigh in something they wanted to see on the layout. Here's how the evil plan turned out:

Stencil
Lace
Purple
Red & gold
purple washi tape
Lobster/embossed stamping
Mist
Distressing
Stitching
Index cards

And here is how my page turned out. Busy. There's a lot to it, but it's Christmas afterall. Or, was. Whatever. :)

Happy Christmas 2012 by Lindsey Krauss. Paper: daisy d's, Flowers: Prima Marketing, other, Diecut: Prima Marketing,  Letters: Making Memories, Prima Marketing, Rub-ons: DCWV, Pink Paislee,  Stamp: Inque Boutique, Ink: K & Company, Mist: Tattered Angels, Artisan Tape: Pink Paislee, Other: lace ribbon, rhinestones, index card. Sketch: Rebecca Ludens.

So
*Stencil -- On the bottom right of the photo mat (now almost completely covered with the last S of ChristmaS, is a stencil of a corner piece - I traced it and then misted it with graphite.

*Lace -- black lace with silver - it was this questionable 3-layered ribbon. I took it apart and used the black for lace.

*Purple -- accent color.

*Red & Gold -- red as a major color, yellow as printed on paper.

*Purple Washi tape -- I don't have purple Washi, so it's artisan tape and it's in the flower, at the edge of the 2012 rectangle, and along the top right edge of the photo.

*Embossed stamping -- I flipped the layout, stamped on the back, dry embossed, flipped it back over, went over it with an almost-dry black in pad, slipped pearl mist on my finger and ran over it again.

*Mist -- the flower and dry embossing have pearl, the stencil and index card pieces have graphite.

*Distressing -- does the background print count? I didn't add any myself.

*Stitching -- sooooo rub-on. But it's stitching nonetheless.

*Index cards -- I heavily misted an index card and hung it overnight. It puddled at the bottom and made this cool border (see under '2012'). Then I used other pieces of the index card under the photo, under the artisan tape, and under the 3 squares on the left of the layout. It's that cool-gray color.

------------------------------------------------------

Why the copyright?

No, I don't think I'm a celebrity. I don't even think anyone will steal my designs. It's to protect the kids. I think the photo adds a lot to the page, so without completely blurring them out, I'm marking them up. I've heard one too many true horror stories lately. Have you seen Catfish? A true-life friend of mine had her some's photo stolen and put on an adoption website -and put up for adoption! The only reason she knows is that someone Good Imaged the picture and contacted her. Google Image, people. It's our friend. So for now, it's the best way I can keep the kids for myself and share my full page with you.

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And just for fun...

I'm slightly obsessed with houndstooth right now. So from now on until... well... till I want to stop, there will be a bit of houndstooth on every layout I design. Remember that year I named all of my layouts like FRIENDS named their episodes? "The One With..." I thought I'd have a little design fun. Feel free to comment if you find the houndstooth!

Musical Mondays ~ Need You Now

Love this song. Just love it. In good times and bad. Love it.

Need You Now (How Many Times) by Plumb

I sing this so loud in my car. So desperately. So... Plumb.

Musical Mondays ~ Where I Belong

Our lead Pastor, Pastor Jarrod Jones, is doing a wonderful series on how we're made for far more than this world - it's great for those who can't accept their mortality, let alone their immortality. Actually, so far, it's great for everyone. I hear seasoned Gracers and brand new Gracers walking away and talking about what's being given. It's simple, but not soft. Love that. Anyhow, it's a lot from Ecclesiates (which apparently I've never studied much), and it's called Rumors of Another World - did you know you can listen to any of Grace's sermons via Podcast? Check those out here.

So this is one of my current favorite songs (I get so giddy and so happy teary!) and it goes along quite well with what we're listening to at Grace every weekend. Enjoy!