Prepared Heart...

Ezra was a scribe that was in Babylon during the exile...

He requested of the king to return to Jerusalem...

His request was granted to him

because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.

He had the blessing of God upon him because he had prepared his heart...

Today, I'm sharing my Bible journaling 

of the verse in Ezra 7 that talks of Ezra's prepared heart.

When Times are Busy...

Blog posts don't always get done as planned.

Today, I had a blog post planned...

with a video.

However, I feel a little stressed about not having enough

items made for the craft show I'm doing at the end of the month...

So, the Bible journaling video will need to wait until next week!

Thanks for understanding that not every day can be a full blog post,

and I hope to be able to do the regular blog posts 

next week even with getting inventory ready!

Hope you have a great day!

"Blessed be God, 

which hath not turned away my prayer,

nor his mercy from me."

Psalm 66:20

Amanda

It's Fall, Y'all...

Okay, not really...

Since the Autumnal Equinox isn't for a couple more days, 

but the leaves are falling here!

I was also enjoying some Pumpkin Custard with Caramel topping,

and the girls are outside raking leaves...

so they can jump in them!

And we are going to have a fun time

with the September 2017 Paper Pumpkin kit...

which features leaves!

Painted Quilt Card...

Oh, the wonder of a new season and the joys it brings...

Not to mention the fun blog hops it inspires as well!

And today is not exception with a great FALL theme!

When the 2017 Holiday catalog came out

I decide to get some of the Quilted Christmas suite...

but had other colors in mind for it rather than the colors in the catalog.

Especially warm, rich fall colors!

Autumn Pumpkins...

Along with some Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Autumn is a wonderful time of the year...

definitely my favorite time, as I believe it is for many of us!

I love the colors, decorations, cooling weather, and pumpkins!

Today's card showcases the season to me...

 and is great for a fall birthday...

especially for someone that enjoys these things this time of year too!

Along with a Product Spotlight Blog Hop...

More details a little further down in the post...

Thank You Card Sets...

Showing gratitude is always a wonderful trait to practice,

and it is a great encouragement to the recipient of the thankfulness.

A great way to show thankfulness is giving (sending) someone a card.

Another way is to give someone a package of thank you cards for them to use!

Ways to use paper pumpkin...

Today, I'm going to do another post about paper pumpkin!

Sign up by September 10th to get paper pumpkin at HALF OFF!

What a great deal!

Just click on the picture to head over to sign-up!

and don't forget to enter the promo code: HALFOFF0917

You can check out the great benefits of Paper Pumpkin in my weekend post, Paper Pumpkin.

So, I did a few more alternative projects with the August 2017 Paper Pumpkin.

Let's Decorate...

my planner layout for this week!

I enjoy taking the time to decorate my planner, the Love Today Planner from Stampin' Up!,

 for my up coming week and wanted to share it with you for today.

I used the new Hearts Come Home stamp set.

It is an adorable set that has an even more adorable die set, Hometown Greetings.

(Bundling is always great = 10% savings over buying individually!)

My stamping got a little more wintery this week...

Not really my intention, I was trying to stick with a fall look,

like my past few weekly layouts have been, 

which I love!

Home in the City...

Welcome to the Anything but the Holidays Blog Hop!

Thank you for visiting me, Amanda Dickson, here at Home Designs by Amanda.

In this blog hop, Stampin' Up! demonstrators are using new product from the just released 2017 Holiday catalog to share ways of using the products that are not holiday in nature.

There is a long list of participants, so a ton of inspiration is awaiting you!

Paper Pumpkin...

Welcome to an "extra" blog post!

I'm spending today of My Autumn Launch Party focusing 

on sharing Paper Pumpkin with you!

The biggest thing to share with you is the great sale

that is going on right now...

At 50% off, you can get your first month for less than $10 (USA)!

Shipping is also included with that price!

My August Paper Pumpkin got to me a little later than normal this month,

but I have had a chance to work on it some today...