Heartache No One Sees Faith blog Hop

Welcome to the Heartache No One Sees Faith Blog Hop!! If you are hopping with us you should have come from Bonita's blog here: http://alifeunrehearsed2.blogspot.com/.  If you just happened to find this post, please go to http://www.mypapertreehouse.com/ so that you can start the hop from the very beginning. :) Now to the hop:

Women have a very unique way of being strong, yet gentle. through this process we find ourselves many times hiding heartaches that truly affect us, but somehow we cannot bring ourselves to talk about. Sometimes it is because of "what would people say" or because we want to keep a certain image, or even because we are trying to keep our loved ones from becoming worried: we hold on to the heartache and even come to believe that "this is as good as it will ever get". Today we are out in the internet laying our hearts bare before the world. We have come to understand that God IS who He says He is and indeed He will complete the work He has begun, and so we lay our heartache before Him in hopes that He will meet us here. As you go through this hop, take the time to think about your own hidden heartache, and if any of our blogs motivate you to speak about it, leave us a comment or even send us an email. As sisters we should remain together and encourage each other to continue the walk towards His arms: the only place we will find rest and comfort.
 
Here's how the hop works:
Like last time we have some GRAND Prizes to share with you, plus most of the blog owners are willing to share some RAK with you. In order to qualify for the GRAND Prizes you ought to leave a comment under this thread and become a follower of this blog (if you are not one yet). We are asking that you would also become a follower of paper Tree House Studio on Facebook so that you can stay updated with our challenges and contests. In order to qualify for the RAKS i ask that you would also become a follower of those blogs and leave them a comment with your thoughts about the project they might have created or the story they were willing to share (if any). It can be very humbling to share our hearts with the world, yet the Bible says that our troubles come so that we can console another going through the same thing. My prayer is that the Lord would use this for His Glory as He heals all of our hearts.
Now for the GRAND Prizes:

Paper Tree House Studio: Cuttlebug V2 Machine

Scrapbook News and Review Magazine: One Year Subscription

Bella Blvd.: $45 retail value worth of their yummy product

Echo Park: Be Mine Collection

Scrapbooks & Stuff: Cricut Your Story

Punky Sprouts: Sweetie Mini-Book

The Paper Blossom Shop: $25 gift certificate to their shop.

Bonita Rose LIfe.Love.Color.Art: 1 spot to her new self-paced Color Your World 2.0 workshop. Read more about it in her blog: http://alifeunrehearsed2.blogspot.com//.


Remember that in order to be considered a winner, you should leave a comment here and become a follower. :) It is that simple.

As you hop through the blogs you will see some very open lives, and others that are not as much. We are all being molded everyday more into His liking. Know that I have been praying for each of the participants, and as you begin to open your heart, I will be praying for you as well. It is my desire that the Lord would begin to build a community of bold women that would be willing to show their weaknesses so that in turn He can be their strength. Maybe next month we can hop through your blog as well.. This will happen every month on the very last weekend of the month, so please plan to be here learning about Him and about His love for YOU and His commitment to make you His!

(If you get lost, make sure to go check out the list of participant's over at http://www.mypapertreehouse.com/)

Here is my hidden heartache:

I am filled with insecurities... Insecurities about being a woman, about being a mom, about being a wife, etc...  It does not matter how hard I try, no matter what I do I always end up feeling guilty.  If I scrapbook because it is what i want to do, i feel guilty because I am not with my children.  If I am with my children, I feel guilty because I am not cleaning my house. If I am tired and i want to go take a nap, I feel guilty because i always have 20,000,000 things pending...  (you get the picture).  Feelings of inadequacy consume me at times and I am left with no other option than to crumble at Jesus' feet and once again ask Him to become my everything. 

There is also a sense of unsatisfaction and almost like a hunger that needs to be satiated in my soul and has not yet.  When it is intense i notice that I tend to withdraw from the Lord because I see such glimpses of who i used to be that it makes me wonder whether or not He will ever be able to heal me... 

I have come to learn that the Lord does not always heal you the way we would like for Him to do so, but for sure it is the PERFECT WAY and He WILL INDEED HEAL!!  :)  That is a promise I hold on tight, especially during my rockiest times.  To remind myself of that I created my first offcial art journal to record His Truth...

i want to know your story and I want to pray for you.  Please leave me a comment... I really want to pray for you!

Here is my first offcial art journal:

Here is my RAK:

Remember that to qualify for the GRAND Prizes you must leave a comment over at http://www.mypapertreehouse.com/ and become a follower.  If you want my RAK you need to leave a comment and become followers here as well...  :)
Thanks for participating with us... Now hop on over to my sweet and talented Rebecca's blog: http://www.polkadotdoordesign.blogspot.com/




Love in Christ,



Nana

See You Later Alligator

 One of my close friends is an alligator wrestler and a couple of months ago my family and I went to see her show.  It was an unbelievable show, especially because she weighs close to nothing ans was up against a 7 foot gator.  Here are some pics of her in action:

At the end of the show, she gave my son a tiny gator so that he could play with it.  He, being the boy he is, thought is was the coolest thing!  I was blessed to capture some awesome pictures of his reaction.  Here is my favorite:

What better line to scrap my little boys reactions with than Echo Park's Little Boy line!  Here is the layout I created:

and then some close-ups:

the bling

Boys will be boys

star with bling

Distress-it-All effect

Paper ribbon

I have created a tutorial for this layout, but it will be a surprise the way you will receive it.  stay tuned!

Thanks for looking!

Love in Christ,

Nana

Challenges for this layout:

Pile-it-On: Bling
PaperCutz: anything goes
MyGrafico: anything goes
Amber's Crafts: anything goes
Catered Crop:  Stripes and mini print, blue, green & brown
Scrappy Saturdays with the Bug: Spring with a twist of Green

Jillibean Soup DT Call Submission Projects

I just finished sending my submission over to Jillibean Soup and am so nervous about the outcome!   : /  There are so many talented women out there, but I had to give it a try!  :)  Here are the projects I sent out their way (some you have seen before, others you have not):
Acabo de terminar de envíar mis proyectos a Jillibean Soup y estoy sumamente nerviosa por los resultados.  Me encantaría estar en su equipo de diseño pero reconozco que hay muchas mujeres talentosas.  No pierdo nada con tratar verdad? :)  Aquí están los proyectos que les envié (algunos los conocen, otros no):

They are still having their DT call, so go check them out if you want to be one of the blessed to be in their team.  :)
Aún están teniendo su llamado de diseñadoras, así que ve a ver los detalles si te interesa ser parte de el equipo.

Come visit me tomorrow.   I will be posting a little tutorial on how to create the cute little owl card.  :)
Visítame mañana.  Estaré poniendo el tutorial de cómo crear la tarjeta bonita con la pequeña búho. :)

Love in Christ,
Besitos en Cristo,

Nana

Just Want to Show you a little Something...

The Lord has been opening SOOO many doors, and every time one opens I become more and more humbled.  I am very much aware of the fact that apart from Christ, I cannot do ANYTHING! :)  So, I created a mini-book to worship Him and acknowledge Him as King...
El Señor me ha estado abriendo TANTAS puertas, y cada vez que abre otra puerta me doy cuenta de lo "chiquita" que soy a SU lado.  Yo estoy bien clara con el hecho de que aprate de El yo no sé hacer NADA! :) Por eso decidí crear este libro, para alabarlo y reconocerlo como rey...

Here is the front of it:
Aquí la parte de alfrente:

 

I titled the book: "The Good News".  The Lord indeed is GOOD GOOD NEWS.  As I look back in my life I realize HOW REAL He has been- and with that realness I have experienced more love than all the love i have felt from everyone i know put together.  He is The King of kings and the Lord of lords, and my desire is to serve Him ALL of my days...  

 Yo titulé este libro: "Las Buenas Noticias".  El Señor realmente es MY BUENAS NOTICIAS. Mientras pienso en lo que fue mi vida hace varios años me dí cuenta de lo REAL que es EL- y con ésto he logrado sentir más amor de lo que yo he sentido en mi vida. El es el Rey de reyes y Señor de señores; y mi deseo es poder servirle el resto de la eternidad.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Que tengan un día lleno de bendiciones!

Love in Christ,

Besitos en Cristo,

Nana

Materials Used:
Echo Park Paper- For the REcors
Maya Road Chips
Maya road Mists
Maya Road Album

You've Grown Sweet & Cuddly Layout- Best Creation Tutorial (English/Spanish)

Hello once again!  This past couple of weeks have been a bit hectic, but spring break is right around the corner so there is light at the other side of the tunnel.  :)  Today I want to share a little tutorial on how to create a very easy layout using the stunning new boy collection by Best Creation.  This line is FULL of cute elements and amazing glittered paper- just what I wanted to complete the layout. 
Hola nuevamente!  Estas últimas semanas han sido como de locos, pero por ahí vienen las vacaciones, así que veo la luz al final de el túnel.  :)  Hoy quiero compartir con ustedes un pequeño tutorial de cómo crear el layout que creé para Best Creation usando su nueva línea Safari Boy.  Esta colección está llena de elementos preciosos y papeles llenos de escarcha-justo lo que necesité para completar mi página. 

Here is the layout:
Aquí está el layout:

Publish Post

To make it you will need the following:
Para crear este proyecto vas a necesitar lo siguiente:

1. Best Creation Safari Boy Line
2. Bazzill Cardstock
3. Palm Tree Stamp (Tattered Angels) with green and brown ink
4. Chipboard letter (Ranger) and Mist (Maya Road)
5. Pop-Dots
6. Sewing Machine
7. Basic Scrapbooking Supplies

Here is what you do:
Aquí los pasos a seguir:

 

I began by drawing a light rectangle using the patterned paper as my mask.  I did this so that i would have a reference to work with when stamping the top of the palm tree unto my cardstock.
Comenzé por dibujar un rectágulo con un lápiz usando los papeles decorativos como mi guía.  Hize esto para poder tener un punto de referencia mientras usaba la estampilla en forma de una palma por todo el borde de abajo.

 Once I finished with the stamping, I sewed a random pattern all around the edge of the cardstock.  I used a straight stitch all around and a decorative stitch on just one of the corners.
Cuando terminé de estampar, cocí un patrón alrededor de la página utilizando dos tipos de puntadas.

I took my patterned papers (including the glittered cardstock which is delish) and distressed them using the Distrezz-it-All.  I then used Distress ink to ink the edges and put them together by sewing the sheets together using a decorative stitch.  I love the distressed look so much that I took the liberty to use the Distrezz-it-All on my picture as well. 

Tomé los papeles decorativos (inluyendo el "cardstock" con escarcha que está delicioso) y usando la máquina de Distrezz-it-All rompí el paple de todas las esquinas.  Luego usé la tinta Distress para darle el color adecuado a los bordes y con la máquina de cocer junté las tres usando puntadas decorativas.  Me fascina tanto el look que deja la máquina Distrezz-it-All, que decidí hacerle lo mismo a la foto.

Now, creating the grass was one of the funnest experiences I have had with cardstock.  I am a Bazzill Junkie and as many of you already know I am in love with creating things from scratch.  I use cardstock to create my paper piecings and I enjoy how the little animals come alive from the paper.  Creating this grass was no different.  I took seven 1 1/2 x 4" strips of Bazzill cardstock in two different tones of green.  Using my favorite pair of scissors (Tim Holtz)  I cut staright lines with very little distance from one another until about a bit more than half of the strip. 
Crear la grama fue una de las experiencias más divertidas que he tenido con el cardstock,  Yo estoy un poco adicta al Bazzill y como muchas de ustedes saben me fascina crear cosas desde "scratch".  Utilizo el cardstock para crear mis figuritas y animalitos y siempre disfruto el ver cómo las mismas nacen y toman vida.  Cuando creé la grama me sentí igual.  Tomé siete pedazos de tamaño 1 1/2x4" de cardstock Bazzill en dos tonos verdes y corté líneas rectas desde el borde de la hoja hasta la mitad de la misma usando mis tijeras favoritas.

I then took green chalk ink and I inked the edges of the strips in order to give the strips some dimension.  Here is the way it looks with ink:
Luego tomé tinta verde para darle color al borde de las hojas, pues pienso que esto le da dimensión.  Aquí puedes ver cómo luce:

I then aligned the grasses with various heights and alternating colors.  To adhere them I just applied adhesive on the bottom of the one of the strips and attached it to the strip in front. 
Alinié los pedazos de papel alternando la altura de cada hoja y los colores,  Para pegarlos, le añadí un poco de pegamento a la parte de abajo y los uní.

Once done, I took one of the borders from the Safari Boy line and used it to cover the bottom the strips. Here is how the end result looks:
Al teminar de pegarlos  tomé uno de los bordes decorativos de la colección Safari Boy y la utilizé para cubri la parte de abajo de la hoja.  Aquí pueden ver cómo luce:

Once I had all of these elements in place and ready, I began to put my layout together:
Cuando terminé de crear los elementos que quería usar, construí mi página con mucho detalle.

 As you can see I used elements that I cut out from the patterned papers as well as some stickers and some chipboard accents. 
Como pueden notar usé detalles que yo creé al igual que algunas calcomanías y otros elementos.

To create the title, I used Ranger Chipboard letters and some delish Maya Mist.  I sprayed the letters and with the leftover ink on my pad I inked the edges of the entire page.
Para crear el título pinté unas letras de Ranger con la tinta verde de Maya Road.  Cuando teminé de rociar las letras usé la pintura que sobró para darle color al borde de la página.  

I finished the layout by adding elements and small details, like polka-dots on the letters as well as some Distress Stickles.  Here are some close-ups of these details:

Completé el layout añadiendole elementos y pequeños detalles, como puntitos bonitos en mis letras, y un poco de Distress Stickles.  Aquí tienen una foto dónde muestro mejor los detalles de la página.

If you have any questions about this project please e-mail me.  You will find a neat challenge where I used this layout as a sample over at www.mypapertreehouse.com. 
Si tienes alguna pregunta en referencia a este proyecto, o si te gustaría que prepare algún tutorial en específico por favor envíame un correo electrónico.  También visita www.mypapertreehouse.com para que leas un poco mas sobre esta página y lo que significa para mí.

Thanks for visiting!  :)
Gracias por visitarme! :)

Love in Christ,
Besitos en Cristo,

Nana

Winner and Tutorial/ Ganadora y Tutorial

 Congratulations ANNA!!  Here is the comment she left me:
Felicitaciones ANNA!!  Aquí está el comentario que ella me dejó:

Anna said...Beautiful card. Just lovely.
God bless all with a healing
hand for the loss of your friend.
I am a follower. Thanks for the chance to win.

Once again, thanks to all that participated!  :)  Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the tutorial:
Nuevamente gracias a todas por haber participado! :)  Que tengan lindo día y que disfruten de el tutorial:

To begin with, I took a 6x6 canvas and I stained it using the new Distress Stains from Ranger.  If you have not tried those yet, you are truly missing out.  It is spectacular to get a distressed look on a large surface without all the arm work.  :)  I also used some Glimmer Mist to create the droplet effect that I wanted.  To set the color I used a heat gun.

Para comenzar mi proyecto tomé un canvas de tamaño 6x6 y lo pinté usando la nueve tinta de Ranger llamada Distress Stains.  Si aú no has tenido el privilegio de usar esta tinta- te lo estas perdiendo.  Es realmente espectacular para lograr el efecto "distressed" en superficies grandes, sin tener que cansar el brazo. :) También usé un poco de Glimmer mist para lograr el efecto de las gotas cayedo.  Para hacer que el color permaneciera, adelanté el proceso de secar la tinta usando una pistola de calor.

After that I pretty much used the patterned paper from Nikki Sivils new line "We Are Family" to complete the decoration of the canvas.  I meant for this project to be very simple, so if you follow the pictures you will be able to create the same canvas in no time! :)

Luego de que se secó la tinta lo único que hice fue cortar los papeles decorativos de Nikki Sivils para decorar el canvas.  Quise que este proyecto fuera bastante sencillo, asi que si sigues el orden de las fotos podrás crear el proyecto sin ningún problema! :)

I have some project kits available for this canvas.  :)  If you liked it and are interested in getting one, they are only $8.  This kit will include all the papers and the canvas you need in order to complete the project. To buy this kit all you have to do is click on the Buy Now button.  

Tengo una cantidad bien limitada de kits para completar este proyecto.  El kit incluye el canvas y los papeles que necesitas para poder crear el proyecto.  Lo único que tienes que hacer para comprar el kit por sólo $8 es darle al botón de Buy Now.

Thanks for passing by!

Gracias por su tiempo!

Love in Christ,

Besitos en Cristo,

Nana 

The Hop is Officially Over

Hello ladies!  Just wanted to thank all of you that participated in the hop.  I read the comments and really appreciate the sentiments you all left.  :)  I will be choosing a winner for my RAK tomorrow and will not announce it until Wednesday.  Remember that you were to leave a comment and become a follower.  :)  Stay tuned today for the tutorial on how to create the canvas I showcased during the hop... :)
Hola Señoritas!  Sólo le quería dar las gracias por su participación en la rayuela. Leí los comentarios y realmente estoy muy agradecida por los sentimientos de simpatía que todas me dejaron.  :)  Mañana estaré eligiendo la ganadora de mi RAK y la anunciaré el miércoles.  Recuerda que para poder ganar tenías que haber dejado un comentario y tenías que ser seguidora de mi blog. :)  Asegúrate de que regreses para el anuncio y para el tutorial de cómo crear el canvas que enseñé durante la rayuela... :)

Love in Christ,
Besito en Cristo,

nana