Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season!

Welcome! We are delighted to have you with us as we celebrate the Good News of our Savior's birth! We are a small band of blogging crafters who love God, and in the midst of all the seasonal festivities, we wanted to take some time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ. Of course there's nothing wrong with hustling and bustling about to find the "perfect gifts" for our loved ones. But when you stop to think about it, there will never be a gift more perfect than the gift God gave us in Jesus.

If you started at the beginning, you arrived here from Stacy's blog. But if you just happened to pop in for a random visit (aw, thanks! ), you'll want to go back and start with Heather's blog, because you won't want to miss a thing!

So why am I participating in this hop? Because I believe that Jesus is my savior and my salvation, and without Him, Christmas would be just another day off from work! Don't get me wrong - I love the festive holly and silver bells and reindeer and Santa and cookies and sparkle and lights, but as I've grown up and matured and as I've experienced the power of my faith and that of my priceless friends during the most sorrowful times in life, I can only now fully appreciate and focus on the wonder and joy that Christ brings to Christmas. So I am thrilled and honored to be a part of this glorious chorus that is shouting, Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!

So about my card for the hop! I tried to keep things simple so that the first thing to catch your eye would be the Nativity. I used a very subdued color palette with pops of gold to emphasize the sentiment and Nativity scene, both of which are from the "O Holy Night" set by Inkadinkado. And I'm happy to say that the only element I purchased for this was that stamp set. Everything else, and I mean *everything*, came from my stash! Hope you enjoyed my card!

Your next stop and the end of the hop is Catherine's blog!

The hop will remain open through 11:59 EDT on Friday, December 3. And, what is a hop without prizes! We are very appreciative to the following sponsors who have generously donated prizes for us:
•Fresh Brewed Designs: 4 Christmas/Faith digital images plus 2 of winner's choice
•Simply Betty Stamps: Jude & His Shenanigans Crew Christmas Collection (6 digital images)
•The Stamping Boutique: 2 Faith digital images plus 4 images of winner's choice

THREE winners will be chosen (one for each prize) from comments selected from random blogs!

AND, we'd like to invite you to join us in celebrating this season of hope! So if you have a new project of faith to share with us, there will be an InLinkz at the bottom of Catherine's post that will be open for a week, so get crafting! :) As a thanks for participating, Catherine will have a prize up for grabs, too! (This is a separate prize in addition to the Hop Prizes and any personal hop candy that gals are offering!)

In case you missed one, here's the hop order from beginning to end:
Heather
Kadie
Karen
Kelly
Lori
Lorie
Maria
Paola
Sammi
Stacy
Susan - You're Here! :-)
Catherine

Thank you so much for hopping along and remembering that Jesus Is The Reason For The Season!

Have a blessed and happy day!

Susan :-)

32 comments:

Unknown said...

I am loving this blog hop and everyones projects.

Angela
Simple Creations
simplecreations@ live.com

Tami B. said...

Pretty papers and a pretty card.

Debbi said...

Your card is beautiful! Thank you for sharing about your faith. I love the Reason for this hop!!
*smiles and God bless!*
debbi

Simply AJ said...

Well done!! Such a stunning card and perfect layout. Thank you so much for sharing your faith and creativity!! AJ

Maria Matter said...

this is totally gorgeous Susan!! love the rich colors!
God Bless!

Trina said...

Another great card on this hop!

Imke said...

This DP is fantastic and i like the layout. Beautiful Card !!

grandmalee said...

What a beautiful card! I love those yummy papers, and the image is really shown off by your wonderful layout. The simplicity of the card helps to remind us of the true beginnings of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

April said...

Wow...what a lucious card...I love those colors...very pretty!

Tabitha said...

Beautiful card. Thanks for sharing the true reason for the season.

Amanda said...

beautiful card! Thanks for spreading the good news about CHRISTmas! :D

Great job!

Kristine said...

I love your post and what you said about CHRIST in Christmas. He truly IS the reason for the season and if the best GIFT of all! Gorgeous card dipicting this too. Love your rich and sophisticated colors. Very nice of your sponsors to give for this hop =) Hope you all have a very blessed Christmas season!

Patti J said...

What a beautiful card, wonderful words, and an awesome blog hop! Thank you!!!

kadie said...

Susan, your post is so beautiful...I'm all teary. Jesus truly is the reason for every season. I love you, Girlie!! I can't tell you all enough how much God has blessed me with our friendships...I'm forever thankful.

Your card is just gorgeous! Such a beautiful tribute to our blessed Savior's birth.

Happy Happy Christmas! MUAH

Lorie said...

WOW!! Susan, this is absolutely beautiful! What a stunning and special creation for this wonderful blog hop! I feel so blessed to be a part of this, and thank you so much for sharing your creative talent with us! I've gotta tell you that I LOVE that bow, too!!!

Hugs,
Lorie

Stacy said...

This is just beautiful! This color combo is stunning! And that ribbon and bow are gorgeous!!! Where did you find that? Yum!

Thea said...

Just love your card--I have the same set, and now hope to use it again this year. Love that you have created such a beautiful card from items in your stash!

Gin Oak said...

Great card - I love how you've tried to keep the nativity as the focus :-)
This hop is great - makes a nice change from all the santa images and we can instead focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Thanks for sharing your card and your faith :-)

sammi said...

Wow, Susan, this card is gorgeous! Love the vintage paper and the shades of color you choose. True Inspiration for The Reason of The Season!

Catherine said...

Oh, sweetie! ((((HUGS))))
You know I count you high among the blessing God has bestowed upon me. I totally don't deserve a friend as wonderful as you, but I'm going to keep you! teehee ;)
Seriously, it is thanks to God's love and the friend he gave us in Jesus, that we receive more than we have earned and will be spared the punishment we should get. Your card is gorgeous and YGG for using the stash! I love that manger scene and your color scheme is quietly elegant. Beautiful!
Thanks so much for being part of this and for speaking from the heart in your post. We are very similar in our faith journeys, and I think that only helps strengthen our friendship and our fellowship.
I love ya to bits, chica, and thank God for you every day. ((((HUGS))))

Ms. Earlgrey said...

My eyes went straight to the navity scene, then I read your post and that is what you wanted us to see. Great job.

Joan

BUZZY BEE DESIGNS and GRAPHICS said...

Your card is beautiful! Thank you for sharing
Rebecca Minor
buzzybeedesigns(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

Sammi said...

What a gorgeous card!! The Nativity scene really does stand out! LOVE it!!
Sammi
xxx

Barb said...

Gret Cards Susan--so pretty and I love reading your story.

MiamiKel said...

Oh Sus! First, let me just say that I'm sooooo blessed by your friendship - the constant smile you have for everyone, the wonderful words of widsom that just stop me in my tracks and how immediately seeing a post on the threads, etc from you has me smiling from ear to ear! You have such a beautiful spirit about you and it's a blessing to call you friend!

And your card is just as lovely as can be, a beautiful representation of the real reason we are celebrating this CHRIST-mas season! Such a great pairing of papers with that great image - I love everything about it!

Sending big hugs and lots of love your way through this season!

x0x0x0

Becky said...

What a lovely card. Beautiful design paper.

~Paola~ said...

My darling Susan,
I've finally mnaged to hop to your blog and...WOWZER!...I had to enlarge the pictures cause I didn't
want to leave out or miss any particular designs....
What a sweet and right to
the point card that you have created right for this swap!
I feel very fortunate that our paths met each other,even if not yET irl!
You made me believe in friendship(s) again....for that I am sooo grateful...
Blessing darlin,please always stay true to yourself!!*luv yaaaaa!>o)

Paola

Heather D. ~ Fresh Brewed Designs said...

Susan,
Your card is so elegant and beautiful! I love the layout and design and how you can feel the importance of this night just by looking at your card. What an amazing night it must have been! All the angles singing praise, God looking down smiling. The wise men, kings, shepherds all coming to find and worship the new born King.

I am so honored to have shared this blog hop with you and to be able to spread the love of Christ to others.

Merry Christmas

"Kirby" (KrB) said...

Love your card, Susan. I love the way you drew attention right to the most important part - great idea and such pretty DP's in the background.

Jeanette (Forest Ranger) said...

Susan, your card is beautiful! I love the rich colors and papers and the beautiful nativity image! Thank you for the reminder to focus on the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas!

Judy McMullen said...

Hi Susan~ I'm a little late to this wonderful blog hop, celebrating "The Reason For The Season" but wanted to let you know how much I love seeing your beautiful card and hearing your comments. You are a dear Sister in Christ and I love that we share this saving faith! Hugs and Blessings to you, dear friend!

Vickie said...

Love this card favorite bible verse TFS