Card Techniques

It's been a while since I updated my blog with any of the cards I've made. I sometimes get so busy that I forget to take pictures, but if I do, I forget to post them.

Here are some of the cards I made over the past few months.

The two cards below were made using the napkin technique. I have wanted to try this technique for a while and the opportunity presented itself when I found this pack of napkins at the dollar store. I die cut the phrases from dies in my stash.

I love to create cards for women, especially African American women because we don't see a lot of stamps depicting the culture. Here are a few stamps I purchased from Rubbernecker Stamps.

I used Distress Oxide inks to create this background

I used a stencil from on this one, then used a blender brush to apply the ink to the background. I used Copic markers to color the image.

The technique for this background required me to use bleach. Yes, you read right. I used a stencil then dabbed bleach to change the look of the cardstock. I colored the image with Copic markers.

Here's another beautiful stamp from Rubbernecker. I used the My Monthly Hero February 2019 kit's stencil to create this background using Distress Oxide ink and colored the image with Copic Markers. 

I hope to begin updating my blog with the work I do, whether it is card making, cakes, or artwork.

Thanks for stopping by!

D'Bee

My Love for Baking

I began baking when I was a teenager. My dad was a Chef and when I was 9 and my sister was 8, he decided we needed to know how to cook. Yes, he did that. In fact, at an early age, he taught us how to clean, cook and care for ourselves and our younger siblings; there were five of us and I was the oldest of the five.

He didn't teach me how to bake, it just came naturally to me. My mother would bring home Duncan Hines cake mixes for me to try. She even bought me my first cookbook (Betty Crocker) which I still have, by the way.

My first cookbook

One of my favorite recipes to try was the Pineapple Upside Down cake. That still remains one of the most requested cakes by my family. At some point, I no longer used cake mixes and began playing around with cakes from scratch. I began experimenting with recipes common to the West Indian community I grew up in. Three of these were my favorite-- Coconut Bread, Fruit Cake, and Yucca Pone. Today, I decided to go back to my roots and make Coconut Bread (I'll blog about the last two at a later date).

Coconut Bread is a sweet bread (sort of like a Banana Nut or Zucchini Bread) made with real shredded coconut that you have to hull and grate. I went to Superior Market for the coconut. I knew they usually carry them there. In fact, they carry both the white and brown coconuts. I bought the brown one, which is what I'm used to. I used a hammer to crack the coconut (the shell is pretty hard) and a paring knife to remove the meat from the husk. I discovered that using my Bullet cuts down on the time it takes to shred by hand and speeds up the baking process. For this recipe, I don't use a stand-alone mixer, I do it all by hand.

Cracking open that coconut!

Below is the recipe.

Coconut Bread

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks) melted
4 1/2 cups flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins (Optional - I'm not a fan of raisins, so I use discretion when baking with them).
1 whole shredded coconut (not the packaged store bought kind)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, well-beaten
1 can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons almond extract
In a large mixing bowl add flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking powder. Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and gradually add the evaporated milk, the eggs, almond extract, and melted butter. Mix in the raisins until all ingredients are incorporated.

Shredded Coconut

Batter consistency

Transfer to two loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Below are some photos that my daughter took as I was preparing the batter.

Final product

I hope you try it, It's delicious!

Knowing Jesus

Reading the Bible and having knowledge of the word of God does not mean we have established an intimate relationship with Christ. Intimacy is defined as, “close familiarity or closeness.” But it takes more than familiarity or closeness to be intimate with God. It requires that we engage not only our minds but our hearts; our heart must be open to and prepared by the Spirit of God. That is why studying the word is not enough.

As we draw nearer to God intimately, we will gain knowledge of our Father and His intentions for us. This will build confidence in us to move closer to Him. Why? Because for our public ministry to be effective, we must have established a deeper relationship with Him in our prayer closet.

To know Him intimately requires that we become acquainted with Him. In order to do so we must sit quietly before Him, we must learn to be still and open our hearts and be vulnerable before Him. We must allow God to love on us and quieten our souls, to hear from Him how special we are to Him and how much He loves us regardless of how unworthy we may feel. God won’t throw your deeds in your dace; He loves those who seek Him, especially when they do so with contrite hearts. He is a good God who knows everything about us including our fears and our hurts, but more importantly, He knows our heart.

Once we become acquainted with Him friendship will follow. Jesus offers us salvation and when we accept it, it’s not enough just to be saved; we want to develop a friendship with Him. Here are Jesus words to us in John 15:15-16, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (‭NIV‬‬). 

As we become acquainted and develop a friendship with Christ, then what follows is trust. It Is not easy; we must make a conscious decision to place our trust in God because we tend to associate trust with emotions (feelings). We become disappointed in others based on a misplaced trust in people. With God that trust, as I stated before, must be by choice. We must trust Him to hold us, heal us, provide for us and lead us. We cannot equate trust in people with trust in God. People hurt and abuse us, yet we place our trust in them and love God. It’s turned around; we should love people and trust God because He never betrays our trust. He’s the one we lean on when we’re betrayed and hurt time and again. That right there should be our wake up call! Psalm 125:1 states, “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” When your decisions, plans, and ideas are rooted in your trust in God, you will be able to stand firm despite the storms that may come your way.  

Watercolor and Stamps

This past week I watched a tutorial from Sandy Allnock on painting water and decided to try it. Thankful I had the Hero Arts Killer Messages stamps to play with. Here’s the finished product.

Me, Myself and I

These three words seem harmless but in matters of our faith, they can be dangerous.

When used to brag about our feats and achievements they become a matter of pride. Taking pride in our accomplishments and bragging as though we alone made them happen is self-absorption, self-centeredness; we forget who made it possible for us to succeed, who gave us the ability do well, to create, to be!

When facing crisis or difficulties, we tend to become the center; we utter phrases like “why me?” As if we alone go through trials. In effect we’re self-pitying, looking for others to feel sorry for us and what we are going through.

It is hard when we are confronted with the truth about ourselves. I’ve been guilty of all of the above and as I look back on my pity party celebrations, I’m appalled at my lack of humbleness, my lack of trust in God!! Yes, that is exactly what it is: selfish, self-absorbing, me, myself and I self-centeredness!

God wants us to turn to Him for all our needs. He has promised to take care of us and provide for us over and over again in scripture, but it is as if we don’t hear or believe Him. As I read today’s scripture in my study plan, Jeremiah 45, verse 5 halted me in my tracks. Here’s what it says, “And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.”” (NRSV)

I had to re-read it all over again and as I did it struck me: stop focusing on success for yourself, stop focusing on doing things your way; forget your self-pitying absorption and instead lean on God, place your trust in Him, allow Him to guide your footsteps and He will prosper you!

#bestnineart2018

That’s it! That’s what God wants from us, that we surrender and humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to do what He’s always promised He would do: be our Jehovah Jireh, our provider. God’s word in this verse is a promise to us if we move from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness!

#bestnine2018 (cards)

As we enter into 2019, I pray we will all take a look at our lives and the path we are on and take stock of where we are and where we want to be; that we rewrite the story of our lives to make God the main focus of everything we do and trust Him for our success.

As you center yourself and create plans and goals for the New Year, I invite you to read Hebrews 11:6 and make it your go-to scripture for the year: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (NRSV).

Happy and prosperous 2019!