Romans 1:8, Romans 1:9-15

Doubled up on SMASH layouts of my bible study notes for the past two weeks, since I wanted to show completed pages! So here's the first layout, with all of last week's study on Romans 1:8, and the beginning of this past week's study on Romans 1:9-15.

These two pages came blank with just the words Good. and Great. on them... so of course I added a couple words to complete the phrases :)

I stuck to using the Central High kit from Studio Calico for these pages. I like that definition of faith - Belief in God's word AND acting upon it!

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For the rest of the Romans 1:9-15 study, I broke up each verse into speech bubbles cut from the Amy Tangerine paper called Conference Call from the Ready Set Go line, then added my notes with my white Signo Gel pen.

Sometimes when you make requests to God, the answer is "not yet" as was the case with Paul wanting to get to Rome, but not forcing it to happen before God's timing. He was shown (early in the book of Acts) that he would preach the gospel in Rome, but didn't make it there for another few years! God said, not yet, and thus we were given the book of Romans, a letter to the Romans before Paul made it there, which we wouldn't have if he went to Rome before God's timing!

To finish out the notes, I used a scrap of that yellow lined paper from the original Amy Tangerine line to write on in black ink, so it wouldn't look too straining on the eyes with all that text in white.

Time To Relax

Last weekend, I was "practicing" remembering to take a picture everyday, in anticipation of December Daily, that I will be participating in for the first time this year! So I caught Chris last Sunday, having fallen asleep on the couch while watching football and snapped a quick Instagram :)

When I saw Amy Tan's fall layout here, I knew I wanted to do a scrap lift of the page with the pic of Chris! So on Friday, I went out and took a picture of our house, on the last official day of summer! Just some real life, random photos :)

I used a combination of the Central High kit and Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go line to create the page, which made it super fast and easy!

HOW-TO:

• All the paper and embellishments are from the Ready Set Go line by American Crafts, except the journaling box from Studio Calico
• The main yellow houses background piece of paper I used is Lounge Fest, the green solid paper is Green Light cut to 9"x8", and the green stripes with houses is Get Cozy cut to 4.5"x10.5"
• I cut the title bubble from the piece of paper called Conference Call, and then cut a rectangle roughly the same size from the Surrounded Kraft paper - for this, I used my new Fiskars 3-in-1 Corner Squeeze punch! This is exciting because for awhile I have been wanting a corner punch that doesn't make as rounded a corner as the old corner rounder I had, and this new Fiskars one, on the least-rounded setting, makes exactly the amount I was looking for!
• Anyway, I backed the heart in the house embellishment with green striped washi tape so the journal card wouldn't show through and added some paper leaves from the original Amy Tangerine line by American Crafts

My Family

After I printed this picture of me, my cousins and my aunt, I knew it needed its own page! My cousin from Colorado and I (from Rochester, NY) went to stay with our other cousin from Indiana - all our parents were/are siblings and grew up in Indy. This is my awesome family!!

I used the Central High kit from Studio Calico for this, which had lots of fun little embellishments in it! The only piece not from the kit is the washi tape, which I bought separately.

I just used glossy accents to adhere the sequins in place and sewed together across the washi tape and paper pieces. I decided to use that cute little piece of Kraft paper, and then just tried to add a bunch of colors to it!

HOW-TO:

• I used the Central High kit by Studio Calico and the main piece of background paper is called "Around Town" from the Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go collection by American Crafts
• The sequins and the orange shipping tag are from Studio Calico
• The green striped piece is the leftover paper from my last layout, called Leaf Large Dot from the Dots & Stripes collection by Echo Park Paper Co
• I can't enough of that multi-colored stripes paper, which is a Tim & Beck exclusive for Studio Calico
• The washi tape is from Freckled Fawn, as I got towards the right side, I overlapped it, then sewed down the middle with a neon green thread to match the neon green stripe on my jacket in the picture
• The triangles stamp is also from Studio Calico, stamped first in neon orange then used the outline triangle in wet cement ink both by Hero Arts
• The "my" part of the title are Blue mini alpha by Basic Grey
• The "Family" part of the title are Everyday printed chipboard thickers by American Crafts
• Amidst the sequins I added 3 of those little Amy Tan Cute Overload Tiny Matte Puffy Accents by American Crafts
• The hearts are also from the same collection, called stitched vellum embellishments

At the Park

I'm a little late trying to join the Fall 2012 Blow Out Your Stash Challenges over at Studio Calico, so just now completed the first one, which was pick a kit and use the DT gallery for inspiration! That's right up my alley!

I chose this month's kit, Central High, because as soon as I saw the newest DT member, Amy Tan's first layout, I just loved it and knew I wanted to do a scraplift of it!

This picture is from my trip to visit with my cousins in Indiana back in May! We went back to our old family reunion site of long ago, Turkey Run State Park and hiked the same trails we used to when we were little! The park is GORGEous with all its woods, trails, and GORGEs haha! We had a lovely day there!

As a side note: I asked my husband Chris what he thought of my page (I do this after every page), and he said, "I like it, but it's not your best..." and even though I agreed, I was like "oh really?" and he replied "Even Michael Jordan didn't shoot a triple-double every game." HAHA! Thanks Coach Chris! :)

P.P.S... This is my 100th post to this blog!!

HOW-TO:

• I used the Central High kit by Studio Calico
• I cut around the foliage from the piece of paper called Nutmeg "Memories" Tapestry paper from the Indie Chic collection by My Mind's Eye
• The green striped background paper is called Leaf Large Dot from the Dots & Stripes collection by Echo Park Paper Co
• I used up the entire little roll of exclusive ribbon from Studio Calico and American Crafts to make the sun's rays
• The sun die cut is from Studio Calico
• The "Meet me in the sunshine" sticker, the letter stickers (Everyday Thickers), and the rest of the die cuts (bits) are from the newest Amy Tangerine line, Ready Set Go by American Crafts - how fitting then, to scraplift Amy's layout using her product!
• Finally, I wanted to add another little pop of color so the rainbowish strip below the photo, is from a Tim & Beck exclusive for Studio Calico

Romans 1:1-7

Yesterday's message was about God's Beloved, the children of Christ and the call for them, and of course, grace!

I threw together the left side in the rush after getting home from church and grocery shopping, before the football game started (but geesh, being Bills fans here is pretty tough - so I dozed after the first quarter while Chris could only watch till halftime before he had to turn it off). I used elements from the latest kit, Central High.

Then I finished up the right side last night, after celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday! Still went for the minimal decoration route for this!

Some important notes:
* Called to be saints - He does not call us because we're saints, we're saints because he called us
* It was God's idea to save man and make the sinner a saint
* The only difference between these is the Savior

HOW-TO:

• For the left side I used the Central High kit by Studio Calico
• I had that leftover square piece of paper called "Charmed" from the newest Amy Tangerine collection Ready Set Go by American Crafts
• The 2 is a die cut number tag from Pretty Little Studio
• The speech bubble die cut is an exclusive from Studio Calico
• The washi tape is from My Mind's Eye
• The note taking card on the right is from the Blank Smashpad by EK Success
• The die cut floral on the bottom right is also from the Ready Set Go collection by American Crafts

Best Friends

We were driving our new convertible home about 2 months ago (it is sold now haha), and got last minute tix to the Rochester Red Wings baseball game with our church crew! We ate a TON, including artichokes french (only in Rochester, right?), hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and peanuts! We were walking by some booth and they offered to take our pictures in a photo booth for free (obviously sponsored by Ford)!

The inspiration for this layout came from this week's Sunday Sketch by Studio Calico:

Originally I was going to follow the sketch really closely, but I had some pre-cut scraps leftover from the Elmwood Park kit and just decided to use what I had this way.

Mainly, I wanted to make sure I didn't labor over this layout and JUST GET IT DONE! I can easily just sit at my table for hours and stare at the layout and move paper around a million times, so I seriously have to keep telling myself that mantra!

HOW-TO:

• The papers are all from the Elmwood Park kit by Studio Calico:
1. The main paper in the background is the back of the paper "Tickets Please" from the This & That collection by Echo Park Paper Co. which I may have overmisted a bit with Passport Mister Huey's mist 2. The rainbow lined paper is "Recorder" from the Childish Things collection by Fancy Pants 3. The blue grid paper is an exclusive paper from Basic Grey + Studio Calico 4. The blue banner strip is Red & White stripes by Studio Calico 5. The red numbered paper is "Giftwrap" from the Cakewalk collection by October Afternoon
• The banner and brads are both from BasicGrey and the die cut circle is from Studio Calico, all from the Summer of '69 kit by Studio Calico
• I used a bunch of letter stickers for the title:
1. "Goofy" written in Boardwalk glitter foam thickers by American Crafts 2. "Silly" written in Eric printed chipboard letter stickers also by American Crafts 3. "Laughing" written in Olive & Cream sticky keys by October Afternoon 4. "Best Friends" written in an exclusive red alpha by BasicGrey for Studio Calico

Romans 1:1

Our Pastor, Pastor Dave (at Calvary Chapel Westside) finally revealed to us which book he was starting on Sundays, after we finished up Acts last week! This is exciting since it took about a year and a half to get through Acts, so starting a new book of the Bible isn't an everyday occurrence around here! Romans is such a great book, aka the Gospel of Grace!

I have been doing a lousy job keeping up my scrapping of my Wednesday night Bible study notes - we've gone through Genesis and a good way through Exodus, but I am still stuck at like Chapter 38 in Genesis, so I'm obviously way behind there. But hoping I can have a sort of fresh start with Romans!

I'm going to try to keep the "decorating" simple so I can keep up on the important stuff - the notes! One thing I want to try to do is write out every verse, word for word from Romans so I can look back on this notebook and just be able to read it straight through without having to look it up elsewhere... easy to say now since we've only covered 1 verse so far!

Some important notes:
* Every master outside of Jesus is empty and futile, doesn't bring you the contentment you long for
* Everything concerning this life, God has it in his hands
* When you seek Jesus with your heart, he satisfies you in a way that nothing else can

HOW-TO:

• Buy a million SMASH books from EK Success, like every. single. one. Then pick one from your million options to use!
• I used letter stickers by Sassafras to write out the word Romans on the left side
• I glued down the upper right corner piece that is a SMASHcaption, as well as the piece of paper with the outline, which was taken from the Top Ten SMASHpad, both from EK Success
• The yellow key sticker is from the Amy Tangerine sticker book by American Crafts
• The three stamps I used were all from the same set from Studio Calico by Hero Arts
• I stamped using VersaFine ink in Onyx Black by Tsukineko, my favorite black ink!