The Apple of God's Eye

One apple basket card for a friend...
and a second card for another ...

and the inside of each:

Since stamp kissing was so much fun the first time, I came back for MORE! The apples in the baskets are kissed with a mini-heart.

A favorite song is "Psalm 17" --

the source of my sentiment inside the card.

Give ear to me

And hear my prayer

Show me the wonder of Your great love.

You who can save by Your righteous hand

Those who take refuge in You from their foes

Keep me as the apple of Your eye

Hide me in the shadow of Your wings

Give ear to me and hear my prayer

Show me the wonder of Your great love

You who can save by Your righteous hand

Those who take refuge in You from their foes

Keep me as the apple of Your eye

Hide me in the shadow of Your wings

Copyright 2003 Words and Music by Brad J. Kittelsen

King David wrote in Psalm 17:8:

"Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings."

(Other references to "apple of Your eye"

include Deuteronomy 32:10 and Zechariah 2:8.)

"Apple of His eye" literally means "little man of his eye," a reflection of you and me in God's own pupil when He looks at us as His dear children.

(The Hebrew word transliterated is ee-shone, and meant “the little man of the eye”, or “the middle of the night” or the “blackness” of the eye.)

The reference here is the pupil of the eye. It's the part of the eye which reflects what you are looking at.

We are in God's eye because He is always looking at us!

Out of His great love, God cares for us and protects us

because we are so important to Him!

Remember that He gave us His best Valentine

when He gave us Jesus. That's how much He loves us.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I used CTMH products:
Red and Colonial White cardstock
Hemp (braided)
Ink pads: Olive, Hollyhock, and Holiday Red
Marker: Topiary
Stamps: Playful Lowercase, September Word Puzzle, Be Mine

Heartfelt

When I saw the Creative Imaginations "Loolah" journaling papers, I knew I wanted to try them as card fronts! Here's one -- and I used a lot of Liquid Glass to give the design some shimmer.



I repeated the heart stamp inside:


My heartfelt thanks for stopping by!

I used:
CTMH CS, Cranberry ribbon & ink, Liquid Glass, Licorice Pearls, Heartfelt stamp;
Creative Imaginations journaling page from "Loolah" packet

All You Need Is Love

Happy Valentine's Day! (Click to read the history of Valentine's Day.)

Flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners, diamonds! Bring them on! (My fave is just cuddling and taking a good walk together for some quiet talk time.)

But when we really think about this love thing, the simple focus is on the action word--the verb--LOVE. And it all began with our heavenly Father's action for us when He sent Jesus to be our Savior and Friend.

God's Word is filled with passages of love for our needing ears, hearts, and minds. Here are just a few of my favorites:

The Gospel in a nutshell: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God is love ... We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16,19

Love is patient, love is kind ... love rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres ... these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4,7,13

My prayer is that you experience God's love and joy in Jesus in your life!

Love is in action as I write...my DH is busy making heart-shaped pancakes. YUM.

That's Amore

Seven layers of paper and some pretty embellies make up this special Valentine's card.

I used Close To My Heart "That's Amore" papers and Stickease, Heartfelt and Heartthrob stamps for the hearts and sentiments, Tulip and Blush inks, Clear Sparkles, and sheer ribbon. The pearl hatpin is from my sewing box, until the pretty pins arrive from CTMH. (Check those out in the new CTMH spring catty on page 29!)

I scored the chocolate background paper and sanded the lines with a sanding block for the distressed effect. No, I didn't evenly space those lines on purpose ... and more about that quirkiness about me ...

The whole front looks off center now that I look closely, but that just goes with me, 'cause I'm always a little off center and not too concerned about being precise. (I eyeball most projects.)

When I was young, I remember my mom said, "Everything we see in God's world is so unique and special...the trees don't always have symmetrical branches, and it's okay if one side of your hair doesn't look just like the other side!" (That usually happened on a Sunday morning when I lamented about my bad "do" and wouldn't leave the bathroom without crying.) Now I've probably rambled long enough. But here's the little life lesson:

I learned from Mom that even off-centered and not-so-perfect things are very beautiful and special! I'm thankful that she ALWAYS made me feel so special even when I didn't like my un-perfect looks. And I have grown into my nose (just as she told me so!) ... but that's a whole 'nother story!