Believe 2012

I did it! I chose my word for 2012 . . . Believe! I will explain it as I show you the projects I made to help remind me of my word all year along:

Today I've started an online bible study on the book, Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries - "Satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food." I need to get healthier including dropping a few pounds, and also I've read that this book can relate to other "cravings" in life that I seem to yearn for instead of God. This bible study fits in with goals I want to accomplish this year. So of course I need a bookmark for it! What a perfect way to see my word every day!

Bookmark Supplies:

• Jeremy Camp's "I Still Believe" lyrics
• Cricut Indie Art digital download cartridge for cross - cut using my Gypsy
• Silver mirrored cardstock from Joann (sold in individual sheets)
• Stampin' Up Cool Caribbean cardstock (from In Color collection a few years back)
• Georgia-Pacific white cardstock
• "Believe In Yourself" sentiment (only Believe inked up) from My Pink Stamper's Encourage Me stamp set (this was borrowed, so I would LOVE to win it and own it myself, Robyn!!)
• Stampin' Up Basic Black ink
• Avery font for wording
• Caribbean baker's twin purchased from Scrappy Moms

Ok, so here's some explanation behind my word, believe. If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that my faith could use some "boosting up." I've been enduring some darker times for a while now, so last year I needed to TRUST God that He would lead me through. My trust has been strengthened largely due to my new church which I officially joined in 2011. That within itself was a large step in the right direction! My new church has already taught me so much. BUT (Ugh! There's always a but!), I'm still in this dark place and need to believe in God's faithfulness, believe in His truth, and believe in His Holy Word even when I just don't see it. Jeremy Camp eloquently sings this in his song, "I Still Believe."

I want to remember all of this on a daily basis, so in addition to the bookmark, I also etched a candle holder with the word believe, and also with some musical notes to remember Jeremy's song. The candle holder sits right in front of me at my home PC, the place I am at the most. And I do enjoy burning candles often. This may be a better reminder than the banner hanging in my home office from last year's word. That was nice, but it started blending into my office further into the year. Visitors to my house would notice it more than me after a while. But a candle will require more attention so that's a good thing!

I'm about to start back to my small group at church where we will be 40 Days in the Word!

Being in the Word is definitely something I need to do and goes well with my "Believe" resolution. I will most likely move the bookmark over to my bible after the Made to Crave online study.

Here are some more close-ups of the candle holder:

Glass-etchings are really hard to photograph!

Musical notes in the shadows!

Bird's eye view . . .

Here it is with the lit Bath & Body Works Marshmallow

Fireside mini candle in it. Their sale ended today, but I

stocked up on plenty of these mini candles with holders!

They were $1.50 for the last few weeks. Gotta love that!

Bird's eye view showing the musical note shadows!

Burned my Marshmallow Fireside mini candle to clear liquid!

Candle holder supplies:

• Cricut Quarter Note cartridge for believe and musical notes welded on my Gypsy
• Cricut white indoor vinyl to make etching stencils
• Armour Etch glass etching cream
• Foam brush to apply glass etching cream
• Glass candle holder and candle from Bath and Body Works
• Cricut white indoor vinyl to make etching stencils

I am entering this into My Pink Stamper's January challenge, "A Fresh Clean Start!"  Robyn often inspires me with her commitment to her faith in which she frequently blogs about, so I thought this project was perfect to make and enter into her challenge!

Soooo, have you picked a word yet for 2012? I've got mine now! Thanks for sticking with me during this very long post and letting me share my New Year goals and crafty projects with you! Have a wonderful week!

I'm Dreaming of A Vinyl Christmas!

Here are more of my Christmas projects I've done over the last couple of weeks. All of them involved vinyl in some way. Ya think I'm a little addicted???

This charger was for my friend. I totally CASE'd it

from a Cricut MB member named 5 Lil Monkeys'-

THANK YOU!!

Apparently she CASE'd it and added her own twist,

but she doesn't recall where she found it originally. 

No twist for me! I loved this design just as it is. And my

Gypsy and transfer tape made this a pretty easy project!

This was my first attempt at glass etching- a letter E using

the Gypsy Font digital cartridge that was preloaded on my Gypsy.

I haven't etched anything else to date, but I'm

guessing that a thicker glass will produce a better etching.

The ornament glass is super thin.

I wasn't especially fond of the Hallmark Godchild

ornament this year, so I thought I would go another route

for the 3 godkids that came into town this past Summer

and went to Legoland with me and my family.

I purchased a set of 3 Lego Santa ornaments off of eBay.

I had my daughter assemble this Lego for the inside of the

ornament because this recipient is too young for Legos.

Also this ornament would act as a sample for the older 2 kids

to see what their ornament should look like

after they put their Lego together.

I personalized this ornament in red vinyl

with the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.

Here is a view of the Santa Lego assembled.

Here are the 3 ornaments together ready to be put back

in the box- the fully assembled one for Avery and the other

2 for the kids that are old enough to put the Legos together.

I also added tags with a group photo from our

Summer Legoland adventure.

Bath & Body Works had cute mailboxes

with travel-sized holiday bath products in them.

I thought this was perfect for one of our young cousins.

And of course I had to personalize it!

I used the Cricut Alphalicious cartridge for her name.

Maybe she can use the mailbox to hold her valentines.

I also vinyled one of these mailboxes for my older daughter

as she admired it in the store earlier in the season.

The younger daughter got a Bath & Body works gift set

that had the bath products in a mini bath tub- so cute!

I vinyled her name on that, too, but didn't grab

a photo before she took apart the gift set. Oops!

I found these mini ornaments in the dollar section at Michael's.

My nephew plays both of these sports quite intently

so I thought this set was perfect for him.

And, yet again, I had to personalize with my

new favorite crafty medium - VINYL!

I used Plantin Schoolbook for the font cartridge.

Here is a little metal pail that I doctored with vinyl

for my adult niece. I added some Bath & Body Works

mini products-  just a little gift to let her know she is thought of.

The buckle was cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge

and the black "belt" was cut using a trimmer.I must say

that putting vinyl on something round like this was a bit tricky!

Ok, that's it for my Christmas projects. I really wanted to personalize all of my gift tags, but ran out of time. I felt really bad about it, but I think my family had a pretty good Christmas even without my personalized tags (sniff, sniff).

I am entering this post in Robin's Creative Cottage Link Up Party! Come join the linking fun! The party ends January 2nd, so pop by soon.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a very Happy New Year celebration all!!