Valentine Cookies

I made these for my Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study which was supposed to start today but the weather had something to say about it. Woke up with blowing snow coming down so I cancelled the session for today.

Recent Photos

This is a great cup of green tea.  It does not look green but I read in a book recently that the color depends on when it is picked in the year.

This is Jasmine Dragon Pearls green tea which is hand rolled and on the pricey side.  It was a gift from a friend.

I brewed the tea for my photo shoot for my 2019 Tea Pot Calendar which will come out later this year.








This is the book on my night stand this week.  Of course, Maeve is one of my favorite authors and this book covers several incidents that I am familiar with from other books.  I don't know how she kept all the stories and characters straight.

In this book, the story is told from Clara's point of view which is  new character for me.

I am enjoying it and will be done to swap it out at Welcome to my Kitchen next week.

My bible study material is ready to go.  It is on the Fruit of the Spirit and starts next Wednesday which is Feb 14 Valentine's Day.

I am looking forward to having at least 5 ladies attending as we explore how God works in our lives to grow Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Goodness, and Self Control.

Are any of you following "This is Us" TV series?  I have watched it from the beginning and on a special Super Bowl episode we find out how Jack died.  He has been dead since the first episode but with flash backs I have come to really love this character.  He is such a good person with the best heart.   There will be a couple more episodes until it goes in hiatus till the fall.  I have convinced several friends to watching it.  I understand the first season is now on Netflicks.

Well sewing projects don't always work out the way you plan them on paper.  I did a sample of the pattern I posted here but it did not go as planned so I made some adjustments.

I now have made several sets of these and I am happy with them.  The fleece is tricky to get consistent stitching in the zigzag but I can live with it.

I am sharing with
Jann who hosts Share Your Cup #283 at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson

Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen

Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Book - Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study -Sherri Harris

This is the book by Sherri Harris that I used for my Scrapbooking Bible Study this fall. It was published in 2004. It provides 10 lessons; 1 introduction and the 9 Fruit of the Spirit.The book does include materials to scrapbook but they designed several years ago and scrapbooking has come a long way in that time.

I had 6 ladies who participated; some who had scrapbooked before and some with little experience. I believe everyone enjoyed the study and some have scrapbooks to show for it. I would really recommend this study. I created coordinated kits for those who did not have scrapbooking experience, which included 12x12 paper, die cut letters for the title, brads, vellum for journalling and various other materials for each lesson. (My pages were created with a similar kit of supplies.) The experienced scrapbookers handled the scrapbooking with their own materials and tools. (click on the F of S label on the side to see all my pages)

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Self Control

I created these pages using the same fortress wall printed on white cardstock. I modified the graphic in Photo Elements to remove a portion of the wall for the left page. I've used contrast in the background paper where the left one is darker and right is lighter. I added color to the letters on the left. I added flames to represent the chaos created in our lives when we do not exercise self control. Life is calmer, brighter, calmer, and protected when we have self control.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Gentleness

I wanted this page to be soft, muted, and give a feeling of quietness. I came upon the idea of a day with new fallen snow. Everything is white, and the snow muffles noises so it's quiet.

I placed my scripture verses up at the top of each page. I found pics in my collection of new fallen snow. I created snowbanks with felt at the bottom of the page. I added die cut evergreen trees on the right hand side. The snow flakes come from a flocked scrapbook page that I punched out individually with a .75 paper punch and glued on individually.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Faithfulness

I decided on 6 areas of my life where there has been faithfulness by God and others. My parents, my health, my church home, my purpose, my friends, and family traditions. The squares are images color printed on vellum and clear embossed then mounted to the pages with tiny red brads. The striped paper on the pages lift up from the center to reveal my journaling. I've used Stampin Up! five petal punches in white to separate the topics on my pages. God is good!

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Goodness

The idea is being a light into the world. I wanted to create light coming from a lamp which represents my presence in the world. I modified a lamp post I cut on the Cricut. I held it in placed with a brad in the top and some glue on the frame. I cut my yellow scrapbook paper to create the beams of light from the lamp. It took a bit because the lamp is on the left hand page and the yellow had to go passed the centre line onto the right page. I found a graphic on line which represents my community. I added my journalling on the vellum. I used pencil crayon on the title letters to work with the light.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Kindness

This was the first layout I produced as a sample for my bible study group.
I placed areas of my life in the 4 quadrants of the page on the right where I can exercise kindness (family, work, church and strangers). The curves flow into the centre circle which represents my life being fuller when I practice kindness in all these areas. I've placed journalling and scripture on the left with my title.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Patience

I decided to create the sense of something taking some time to happen and how I have to have patience. I came up with growing a flower. I started with a nice blue paper for the sky. I ripped a layer of dark brown cardstock for my earth. On the left is the seed in the ground. It then sprouts and continues to add leaves then a flower emerges which gets bigger. The leaves and stems get darker as they get bigger. I added rain drops of blue vellum and ripped clouds in the sky. Of course we need sun and warmth for things to grow. The journalling was placed on wavy vellum strips placed in between the stages of my flower growing. Scripture verse on the left hand side.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Peace

I had a good idea what I wanted. I don't have a garden but I wanted a garden bench. I took a trip to our local conservatory and took quite a few shots. I printed 3 of them to 8x10 then selected this one to cut down to 8x8 and matted with dark green. I surrounded the photo with words that I associate with peace, printed on vellum. I placed my title below the garden bench. The square picture is of Peter and Jesus on the water. When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he did not sink. I added a scripture verse and some journalling. The small envelope holds a note with personal concerns.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Joy

I decided to put on layout the things that make me happy. Ice cream, music, AFV, photography, sunflowers, the 4 seasons and Christmas. I chose a blue floral paper with glittered elements. I created a sunburst of yellow rays which makes the layout bright and cheery. I chose stickers and clear embossed color printed images for my pictures. The camera 3-D sticker was expensive but exactly what I wanted. I added my journalling along the edges of the sun rays. I put the words to a favorite song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" and scripture verse on joy on the vellum on the right.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Love

I chose love of family, of country, your enemies and your brothers for my themes. I found photos appropriate to each of them. I drew the heart by hand and cut it out in 4 different colors. I chose to cut my journalling vellums in oval shapes. I am so grateful for Christian parents and living in Canada. Title is cut with the Sizzix Shadow Box alphabet.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Living a Fruitful Life

I start my Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study today. I will be posting my pages every week for the next 10 weeks. On my first page I created a vine and grape design. I placed each of the Fruit of the Spirit on one of the grapes. I punched my 1" grapes from several shades of purple cardstock. I printed the words on vellum, punched them out with a 1" punch then used adhesive runner on the cardstock and placed the vellum circles on top. I chalked the letters in my title and did a bit of journalling. I have saved the second page for photos of the group as we meet every week. I will do some journalling at the conclusion of the study.

Scrapbook Layout - F of S - Kindness

I'm working on a scrapbooking bible study for the fall. Here's my first sample page. The right hand page has four quadrants - Family, Work, Church and Strangers. What can I do to be kind to the people in each group. The circles on each quadrant merge in the centre. The small circle represents my life which is fuller when the life of those in each quadrant merges with my life. The left page has a scripture verse, a story from the bible and a prayer.