New Products

Hey all,

As I sit here on another snowy evening in the Dallas area, I wanted to share some new items I have been working on the past couple weeks. I am so excited (and happy) with how these products turned out.

Safari Baby Girl Card

Safari Baby Boy Card

Brown Damask Cards

Black Damask Thank You Cards

Monogrammed Cards

Baby Gift Card

Christmas Tags

Monogrammed Football Diaper Bag

Football Burp Cloths (set of 2)

Chenille and Satin Tag Blanket

Also, here is a picture of our house on Christmas Eve. We woke up to a beautiful white Christmas, don't you think??? Since living in Texas, this is the first white Christmas I have seen. As we approach 2010, I am so grateful for my family and friends who have supported us, prayed for us, and continue to walk beside us in our journey towards adoption. I wish you and your family a blessed New Year!!! I appreciate all of you more than you know!!!

Much love,

Baby card and gift card

Hey everyone,

Last week I purchased a template from Papertrey Ink to create this sweet gift card holder. Some very dear friends are having their first baby and they live out of country. Making the gift card holder was so much fun to do. The baby card is one that we will sell on the website and decided to make the gift card template to match.

Here is the finished design.

Much love,

Holiday Happenin

Hey all,

We had such a great time yesterday at the Holiday Happenin. Everyone there participating is so incredibly talented. A HUGE THANKS to Kara for opening her home. Here are a few pics.

Much love,

Last week to collect cans

Hey everyone,

This will be the last week for us to collect cans for the Loucks family. (see column to the left to find out more on their adoption journey). We will turn in the cans collected and donate all the money received to this family's adoption process. If you want to drop off the cans to our house or give a donation to help this family, email me or call me.

We will send the donation next Friday, December 18th. Thanks for making this so special for them and being a part of God helping this family.

Much love,

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #19

Dawn McVey's color challenge this week was fantastic!!! The inspiration, the new t-shirt for the Pioneer Woman. I have to say this shirt was designed by our friends at Wild Olive Tees. You can check out their designs by clicking on their blog link to the left. This company gives 10% of their profits to Love Without Boundaries, a group of volunteers improving the lives of orphaned children in China. By the way, they have a great promotion going on today.

So, here was the challenge. Use the 5 colors in the picture below and create.

This is what I came up with.

Much love,

Full and Happy

What a beautiful day with friends here in Flower Mound. I am so thankful for the love that surrounds us. There was so much laughter, great food, and even some exercise with a game of football and jumping on the trampoline.

Hope your day was full!!!

Much love,

Auction Ends Tomorrow

Hey everyone,

The auction to raise funds for An Orphans Wish will end tomorrow at noon. Here is the direct link to view the items up for auction. There are some beautiful items to bid on.

http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/fabfundraiser_auction09.htm

The items from Journeymark are towards the bottom. All proceeds go towards warm clothing and cloth diapers for the children at An Orphans Wish .

Much love,

An Orphans Wish Fundraiser

Hey everyone,

I am excited to share this post with you today. My heart is anxious to see what will happen over the next couple days.

Jennifer and Joe created myadoptionwebsite.com after the adoption of their little girl from China. Here is a small excerpt of what they do in their own words.

"We created myadoptionwebsite.com so that others could share their own China adoption story with family and friends over the worldwide web. We create and maintain all of the personal adoption websites that we host. Those who choose our services simply email us their desired text and photos. We import your text and resize your photos for placement on your personal website."

Chris and I started to follow families on this site about 2 years ago and have enjoyed the personal stories. Also, the websites are gorgeous.

They are hosting a fundraiser this Wednesday, November 18th, to raise support for An Orphans Wish.  An Orphan's Wish  is "a unique project in the Guangxi province of China.  It is located outside the picturesque city of Guilin.  It's a very special place for orphaned children." 

You can visit their website to read more about their mission and the details of the work being done.  All the money raised by this fundraiser will go towards the purchase of warm clothing and cloth diapers for the children.

What a great time of year to be able to bless orphans halfway around the world. Journeymark Cards and Gifts is honored to donate some of the items up for sale.

Visit myadoptionwebsite.com on November 18th to do some shopping and help out with this worthy cause. 

Happy shopping and much love, 

Winners of 1st Giveaway

Since this was my first giveaway, I am feeling that each person who responded needs to win.

Congratulations, Stacey and Adoption Advocate! Please be sure to email me at journeymarkcards@yahoo.com to claim your prize and email me with your ship to address. You have 30 days to claim your prize package.  Here are the sweet responses below.

Stacey said, "This is a very hard decision! As much as I like the vintage feel of "Holiday Wishes," I'm voting for the final card, "Wishes" because of its fresh and cute design. Love them all!"

Adoption Advocate said, "I agree with Stacey, the choice is beyond difficult to make. I love "celebrate" and "wishes" the most because to me they express a fun and joyous feeling that christmas brings."

Thanks for all of you who are supporting us with this business. We love and appreciate you more than you know! I have something very exciting to share with you all tomorrow that Journeymark is honored to be a part of. Can't wait!!!!

Much love, 

Christmas Cards and Giveaway

Hey everyone,

Here are some of my designs for Christmas cards. Let me know what your favorite card is and why, and you will be entered into a drawing to receive a pack of 10 cards from the card you chose. Drawing will end Sunday, November 15th at noon.

Much love,

Celebrate the Magic of Christmas

Holiday Wishes

Star So Bright

To You and Yours

Celebrate

Noel

Wishes

TESC #90

Hey all,

It was a fun and busy weekend. I wanted to make Christmas cards this weekend and decided to enter the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge. I made two completely different cards for the challenge.

The first card is for Christmas. I used Kraft, Spring Moss, and Vintage Cream paper from PTI and paired with the 2008 Holiday Tag Collection stamps. I used some beautiful ribbon I had and highlighted with diamond stickles.

For this second card, I used Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush, and Aqua Mist paper from PTI.  I again stamped with the 2008 Holiday Tag Collection using chocolate ink and stamped Thank You with Aqua Mist using a wooden stamp. I tied Raspberry Fizz Vintage buttons on twine and highlighted with some holiday ribbon from Michaels.

So much fun. I will have more cards later for you to check out. Have a wonderful Monday!

Much love,

Fall Wishes

After battling with 4 years of infertility, we are moving forward with a decision that brings peace to our hearts. We are moving forward with adoption.

A couple weeks ago, Chris and I went to the 2009 Tapestry Adoption and Foster Care Conference held at Irving Bible Church. This was an incredible opportunity for us to hear from speakers who have experienced adopting children, both domestic and international. We learned more about the beauty of adoption, financial resources, the realities and myths of adoption, and heard from a dynamic speaker, Dr. Karyn Purvis. Dr. Purvis brings over 10 years experience in working with adoptive families and foster families. You can learn more about Dr. Karyn Purvis by clicking on the Empowered To Connect link under my resource column to the right.

There are many things to think about, agencies to research, deciding on domestic or international adoption, the financial responsibility, etc. However, there is something wonderful in knowing that our loving God is walking beside us and ahead of us, and will guide us in every step of the journey.

Please continue to pray for us. If any of you have experienced adoption or are in the process, and would like to share your experiences, please do so. Don't forget this Sunday is Orphan Sunday and November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Visit www.orphansunday.org.

With much love and warm wishes to you and your family,