Greetings from Iowa! My name is Marla Owens who is married to the best man on earth. He is a wonderful gift from God to me. We have four adult children. Three are here in Iowa and one is in Ohio. We are so thankful for our children whom we love so very much. I am a born again believer in Christ Jesus. I sing with the praise team at Immanuel Baptist Church. When I'm not singing with the praise team, I'm singing in the choir. I used to be in a Southern Gospel quartet years ago as a teenager in the Southern Illinois area. I not only love to make cards but love to sing too. My husband and I work with Awanas each Wednesday night at our church. We enjoy working with the kids to help them memorize their Bible verses. We love the Bible. It is God's instruction book for us. It is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I praise the Lord and strive to serve Him in everything that I do. It is my goal to bless people as Christ has blessed me so graciously.
I got into crafting when I was growing up. My parents had me in 4-H and Girlscouts. I was in 4-H longer than Girlscouts. I made my children clothes when we lived in Indiana. When we moved to Iowa I gave up sewing and got started in Creative Memories. I have put together over 20 scrapbooks. Along with scrapbooking cardmaking held my interest. I started making cards in 1994. They were simple cards since there weren't many products to work with. My craft room used to be in the basement. In 2003 my crafting came to a hault. I had two major surgeries that year. It was also just too cold to craft in the basement. Our youngest son moved out of the house about three years ago. It was then that my husband suggested that we turn his room in to my craft room. He hated seeing all my supplies in the basement not being used. We moved all of my stuff up to Zach's room which was now my craftroom. John painted the room for me, put up a new curtain rod and new curtains and got me book cases from Target. He put them together for me. He also got me a new light fixture and installed it. Did I mention I have the best husband ever? Well I do! He has blessed me with dies, stamps, paper, die cutting machines and more. I am so thankful for my craft room. It has been a wonderful blessing to me. Making cards is so enjoyable to me. Our church comes out with a monthly newsletter. They list every birthday for the month in the newsletter. I try to make each person a birthday card. It is a ministry the Lord has given me. You never know who you can cheer up and bless with a card.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Here's another birthday card I made for a friend at our church.  It was made using Spellbinder and Heartfelt Creations dies.  Heartfelt Creations card stock was used for the layers.  The flowers were made from DCWV card stock.
 The tulle fir the bow came from JoAnn's.


Flowers I made a few days ago



Sunday, March 6, 2016

 This is a card I made for a friend at church.  Her birthday was March 3rd.  Happy Birthday Mary Ellen!


Tuesday, March 1, 2016

This is an box envelope I made for a friend for her birthday.  It was a bit of a challenge figuring out this size.  I wish We Are Memory Keepers would make a bigger sized punch board all the way to 12 inches wide.  It sure would make things easier.  The card below I also made.  The card fit into the box envelope nicely.  I enjoy making both the cards and the envelopes.  The paper is DCWV and Heartfelt Creations Paper.  The die cuts and flowers and leaves are also Heartfelt Creations.