In His Presence

The theme for the current Salt challenge is presence, and I immediately started thinking about Psalm 139. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, His hand will guide me and hold me fast. What an amazing promise! I pulled out my concordance to see where else the word "presence" is used, and came across this passage:

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.
For you are their glory and strength...
(Psalm 89:15-17a)

The phrase "learned to acclaim you" really jumped out at me. We are always in His presence, but the true blessing comes when we've learned to delight in that, to praise Him at all times. And it doesn't just happen - we have to make it a habit.

I decided to highlight the first verse on this little door hanger made from a coaster. I started by stamping the path (Stampscapes) onto some BasicGrey paper, then added just a tiny bit of color to it with prismacolor pencils. I printed the verse, then trimmed and adhered it. I added the heart/cross rub-on (from Joann's - they have a nice little section of faith-based products now!), then glued it all on to the coaster. I added some ink to the edges, then ran the ribbon through two eyelets.

Chipboard Coaster Frames

For any of you who have been checking me out on my previous blog, you've already seen these projects... but they're so much fun that I just had to share again! I got in on a big order of these chipboard coasters on Splitcoaststampers, and have had a ball creating with them. This yellow and blue frame features my adorable little boy, and the stamp set Polka Dots & Paisley, which will be available to purchase starting March 1. It really is a fun set to play with.

We also made these frames as a project at our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group, so I made a few samples using a variety of stamps (including some foam mounted), stickers, rub-ons, etc. The basic approach is the same, though: cover the coaster base with ink (just swipe it with a dye based pad), then stamp away and adhere additional elements. If I made these again, I wouldn't use rub-ons. Soft chipboard + furious rubbing to get the entire word transferred = major groovage on the frame. I've used hinges from Making Memories on most of these and stuck them down with red liner tape. Great stuff!! I also used my crop-a-dile for the hinges with the snaps, and then just punched holes and threaded ribbon through on the green and blue one.

These coasters are pretty popular right now, and I know there are a lot of stores on eBay selling them in smaller lots (like 10 instead of the 100 I had to buy!) You could also just ask the waitress for a few extra next time you go out to dinner, and cover the entire thing with patterned paper. Either way, it's a pretty simple but super cute project.