Tea + Copic Markers + A Friend = A Fun Afternoon

Happy Saturday everyone!  I hope that all of you are having a wonderful weekend so far.  I spent most of my day so far doing paper work to prepare for my meetings for work next week. For the rest of the day I hope to do some crafting, watch some good TV shows on Lifetime and Ion, and spend some time with my family.  Before I started with some crafting I wanted to share with you my time with a friend yesterday.  We enjoyed some passion fruit tea from Half and Half (with passion fruit and lychee pieces on the bottom)

and colored with our Copic markers.  She is just recently started coloring with Copic markers so she asked me for some tips.  I of course am not a pro with the markers, but I did my best to show her some tips that I have found helpful.  I stamped some images from some of my favorite companies for us to color.

As you can see we did not get to color too much.  At least we got to have a good time of fellowship together, organized her makers, and colored a bit. Don't you think my friend did a pretty good job with coloring her first two images?  I surprised her with a stamp Greeting Farm so that she could ink it up and practice coloring some more when she gets home.

I wrapped the stamp in a piece of CS and stamped two coffee cups on it.  I stamped coffee beans in the background. 

(It was fun coloring them on Thursday evening.  After not crafting all week it felt nice to do some crafting.)  I made put two coffee cups on  it because not only do my friend and I enjoy tea, but we like coffee too.  She surprised me with an ono watermelon pie. 

Before ending this post I wanted to share the second event that God has used recently to speak to my heart.  Three weeks ago my family and I went to an event at a local church that was put on by a Compassions International.  It is a Christian organization that helps children around that world that live in poverty.  They set up different rooms that resembled the life of two children.

It was very sad for us to see how these children lived.  It really touched our hearts to see how God used the organization to give them hope and help them to grow up into a young man and woman that loves God.

God used the event to touch our lives so much that we decided to sponsor a child that lives in Indonesia.  We  pray that God will use our money, gifts, and letters to make a difference in her life and most importantly help her to experience God's love.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have to share.  Have a blessed weekend!

Paper Cupcakes From the Heart and a Movie That Touched My Heart

I hope that this post is finding you doing well.  What craft projects have all of you been working on?  I have not done any crafting for the past two weeks.  When I am home I have been cleaning the house, doing paperwork, or am just too tired to do anything.  I finally got around to working on a card for swap yesterday.  It felt good to get my creative juices flowing again.  :)  I will share with you what I made for my swap after I mail it.  Today I am going to share with you a card and cupcake that I made for a friend last month for her b-day.  She bakes the most fab and beautiful cakes and cupcakes so I thought it would fun to surprise her with cupcake that I quilled and a cupcake themed card. Here are some of the different steps that I did to make the cupcake. (Each part of the cupcake starts off as a stripes of paper that I quill into a circle.  After I form the flat circle I move the strips around to create a bowl shape for the bottom and the top of the cupcake. For the flower I quilled smaller circles and squeezed them carefully to form little tear drops.)

After I made the cupcake I put it in a plastic shaped cupcake. 

Here is the card that I made for her.

My friend was very surprised and loved what I made for her.  Before I end I wanted to share a few pictures of what I have been up to.  God has used several opportunities recently that really touch my heart.  One happened yesterday.  After an ono time of enjoying some poke from a local restaurant called PokeStuf

my hubby and I went to go watch a movie called War Room.

The movie is one of the best movies that we had ever watched.  We had a good time laughing and crying together but best of all God used the movie to speak to our hearts to remind us what a powerful weapon prayer is.  My hubby and I highly recommend that everyone watch this movie.  We pray that God will use the movie to continue to transform the lives of everyone that watches it. Thanks for dropping by to see what I have to share.  If you have a chance please leave me a comment so I know that you stopped by.  Have a blessed weekend! 
 

September's Secret Sister Swap

I always look forward to receiving my swaps in the mail every month. Last month Jenny Kato was my Secret Sister.  She made me an awesome journal for my family and I to record our blessings and thanksgivings in (All the pages, washi tape, and tabs coordinated with each other.)

and sent me some beautiful bling and

Along with the journal and RAK she wrote me a message in a super cute card  that really touched my heart. 

She mentioned to me that this was her very first swap.  I am glad that I was able to be the very first person that she was paired with.  Of course I like receiving crafty handmade gifts and RAK, but what I enjoy the most are the messages that come with the packages.  I always like to include a special message when I send out my swaps.  I was Secret Sister to Jayne Converse.  I made her this card

and sent her a RAK.

I sent her a little extra because she has always been very thoughtful and generous in sending me gifts.  I also sent her a little extra to say "thanks" for keeping in touch with me and for her prayers and encouragement.  Thanks again Jenny for being such an awesome Secret Sister to me.  I hope that we can keep in touch.  Jayne, I am glad that my package made it safely to you.  I hope that we can continue to keep in touch.  Big hugs to both of you!  Happy crafting to both of you and all of you out there that have taken time to read this post. 

Delivering Our Tea Swaps In Person

My friend Carol and I were paired up to be tea swap partners last month.  Instead of mailing each other a card and two tea bags we decided to meet up for dinner to give each other our goodies.  We had sushi together at Yes Sushi, one of my favorite Japanese restaurants.  While we were waiting for our meal to be served we gave each other the cards that we made, some tea, and some extra RAKs.  This is the super cute card, embossing envelope (She also gave me two stamped images of the front of the card.),

and the generous RAK that she gave to me.

She said that the mice on the cards represent my family and I.  :)  I just love how the card inside has a Bible verse and the cup does too.  Here is my card for her and one of the RAKs that I gave to her.  It's funny that both of used the acorns from one of the new SU sets. 

This my RAKs to her.

She listed on her profile what she likes/loves.  She wrote that she likes Hello Kitty, flowers, and the ocean.  She also wrote that she loves God. I thought it would be fun to surprise her with a gifts in each category. Here are Carol and I enjoying our ono meal.

Last but not least is all the food that we ordered. 

It is such blessing having Carol as a friend and having a chance to hang out together once in awhile. It was especially fun being tea swap partners last month.  Have a great weekend everyone!