Autumn Harvest!

Happy amazing Friday all my crafty friends! It is just a glorious day here! The morning sky was just absolutely beautiful. One of those morning skies that you just want to sit wrapped up in a blanket on the porch with a cup of joe and drink in God's awesome display of beauty! I continue to be so amazingly blessed for each day that I wake up with the breath of God! His love for me is something that I can't contain and I pray that as I share with you all, you are aware of His glorious love for you as well!

Today is the end of October!  I have seen this sentiment across the blog world, but I just have to express it as well...WHERE DID OCTOBER GO? LOL  Or better yet, this year?  Boy time flies!  Or maybe I am just showing my age! LOL!  I've also shared before that fall or autumn is my FAVORITE time of year!  I noted that we don't do the "Halloween, trick or treat" thing, but my girls do like to go to carnivals and fairs.  Tonight, one of our local churches has a "Carnival for Christ" and that is something I do like to take them to as opposed to other "Halloween" festivities.  They have had this event for years and it has become a really big event!  I love going, but hate trying to find that parking spot! LOL

I want to share a page today inspired by the "Carnival for Christ!"  It was meant to be a fun, fall page and I so enjoyed doing it!  Just cuteness that brings smiles to my face!  I think that is what it supposed to be all about!
Autumn to me is ALL ABOUT family and friends, traditions that each household has passed down from generation to generation and about GIVING!  Giving of your heart and time to others!  When we go day to day in our "busy" lives, we tend to forget about others!  We forget to spend that quality time with one another and just sharing of ourselves with a neighbor or loved one!  Something about the holidays always brings that to the surface, but we should be about giving of ourselves on a DAILY basis!  There is always someone in "need!"  It may or may not be a "physical" need.....maybe they just need a hug or a smile or a kind word!  And YOU just may be the one God has designed to go across their path today and share that with them!  If we neglect that or pass up the opportunity, that person misses out on a blessing, but YOU also miss out on the blessing God has designed for YOU because of your obedience!  God's plan for that person will go through with or without you, He will just use another to bless them!  But your opportunity for God to use you in a mighty way and to bless you in return will have been missed!

I had all the colors I wanted to use in mind for this page and just started randomly spreading those yummy fall acrylics down on my gesso'd page.  I used an old credit card, just swishing away! LOL  I don't buy expensive acrylics, I just use good old FolkArt

acrylics.  I love them and they have so many amazing colors to choose from!  I used a few different yellows and taupe's and oranges and just mixed all around.  I then took a yummy green and put it through Tim's Burlap stencil and yummy brown through Rebekah Meier's Harlequin Circles stencil. (Rebekah recently lost her beloved husband and friend.  Take the time to lift her up today or go to her site and bless her with a cyberhug!)  I also took a yummy purple that I thought would pop the page and put it through the hearts on that same Rebekah Meier stencil to show my love for fall!

I used some black acrylic paint with "coffee stain" stencil, not sure which one, and also used that same paint with and old plastic empty tape roll in different places.  I love using coffee filters to do things on (I got that idea from Rebekah Meier) so I stamped some leaves with my this months Layers of Life kit from Unity Stamps with Viva Inka Golds in Azure, Crimson and Pistachio.  They stamped pretty good if I misted them with water, but then I also took my Tim Holtz water brush and move the color around a bit!  Then I sprayed some Heidi Swapp Color Shine (which I love) in Chartreuse over them to give them some extra shine!  I then fussy cut some cute emphemera that I had in my stash and adhered it all down with some Aleene's!  I finished out with framing it with Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut.  So much fun!

God wants to bless His children that you give back to another.  You take the time to read Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and allow Him to minister to you in that area today!  Happy Autumn Harvest to you and have a most spectacular weekend!

Blessings!

Congrats on RCAD #300 Linda!!

Today I am "sharing this video from Linda Lapotka who many of us know over at Scrapcat Cards by Linda! Linda is a precious, precious spirit who has so many wonderful videos that I love to watch!  She shares so much creativity and inspiration with her Rolodex Card A Day projects!  As of yesterday, she has surpassed #300!  Congrats Linda!  I encourage you to go over and watch her vids on her YouTube Channel, you will enjoy each and every one!  She is giving away some of her amazing stash to two lucky winners which is just lovely!  Can't wait!

What's so amazing about this share request from her is that I had already planned on sharing a quick tag I made as an inspiration because of her!  How timely is that! The tag I am sharing I tried to just pull from stash I had lying around, bits and pieces and pull it all together famously like she does!! She does it so effortlessly and it just seems to all come together! She seems so at peace when she does her RCAD's so I tried not to think about what I was going to do, just pulled it all out and put it together with her sweet spirit in mind!! It's not a "Linda card," but I guess there can only be ONE Linda! LOL

Congrats again Linda and blessings for many MORE RCAD's, especially for all of us fans who love watching!

Blessings to you!

October Fun!

Good Tuesday all you "spooky" crafters!!  Can you believe that October is about to be over???  My goodness, where did the month go?  There are some parts of this fabulous month that I just simply want to do ALL OVER AGAIN!!  Alas, I will trudge on!! LOL  I hope you have all had a fun month and are looking forward to the holidays!

Today I will share a couple of tags with you that I did just for fun!!  We don't celebrate "Halloween" per say in my family.  My girls have gone to "parties" whereby the have dressed up and have gone to October Festivals, we've carved cute pumpkins, but they don't "trick or treat!"  Just a choice we have decided to make in our home. That being said, the tags I want to share with you today are really out of character for me but I couldn't help myself because I have really seen some fabulous Halloween "shares" in our art community!  You guys have really made some fun "tricks AND treats!"  I love to have fun and so these were really done in that light!  Plus, I found the stamps I used for $.99 in a bargain bin and I had to buy them because they were too cute!!

I really had a ball doing these and hope you enjoy!  I started them both off with gesso because at first, I wasn't sure where I was going with them, but then it turned out I went in a different direction that I initially thought (I know none of you have ever done that! LOL)  The only products I pulled out were my Distress Ink pads in Dusty Concord and Spiced Marmalade and Walnut Stain.  I also pulled out my Dylusions spray in Squeezed Orange. I like simple!

I was really glad I had opted to start with the gesso because it kind of gave the background on the purple "Happy Halloween" tag an eerie, smoky feel to it.  I then added the Distress Spiced Marmalade in areas here and there and also "flicked" the Dylusions Squeezed Orange around the tag as well for a sort of "moon glow."  I then finished with Dusty Concord on the edges and then added clear embossing powder to it and heat set.  I saw that online somewhere and thought I would give it a whirl and I like it! LOL  It added a nice effect! The moon, starts and "happy halloween" I stamped with Versamark and heat set with a black glittery embossing powder.  I then ripped some scrap paper to make the little "hills" and shaded with a black gelato that I had placed on my craft mat with some water and applied with a brush.  I then stamped the fence and cat with StazOn in black and as it wasn't dark enough for me I went over them with a Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen.  I added my ribbon that I had distressed and voila!

On the "boo," "spooky" tag I applied Spiced Marmalade first and then added the Squeezed Orange that I moved around with a baby wipe.  Then I lightly stamped for some background texture with one of my favorite backgrounds stamps from Christy Tomlinson and applied some strips of washi tape for just a tad more texture. I wanted to use the same technique that I used on the other tag and I swiped Versamark on the edges and heat embossed with that same black glittery embossing powder to give it a more eerie look!  A happy mistake that I made was that when I was pouring off the embossing powder, it kind of stuck to the tag in various places but rather than trying to "fix" it, I just left it on and when I heat set it, it looked really cool to me.  I then stamped "boo," "spooky," "the bat & stars," and the house with Versamark and used again that same black glittery embossing powder and heat set.  I added my distressed ribbon and another cute tag, voila!

So, what do you think?  How am I at spooky?? LOL  All said, it really was fun and even my girls thought they were "cool!"  Yay me! LOL  I hope your plans for Halloween will find you safe and if you do get into the festivities, I hope you have fun!!

Have a blessed rest of the day! :)

Love Bears All Things!

Good Monday my friends!  I can't believe it IS already Monday!  The weekend flew by, but not without some quality time doing some well overdue chores that needed to be done since I was out of town last weekend and spending some time with my girls and even some time in my art closet! Yippeeeee for me!! :)  That being said, one of the projects that I want to share is not through yet, so I will share a quick project that was done in one of my other journals so that I can finish the other project and share it this week as well.

This journal is what I call my "light" journal.  I say light because for the most part, it is not mixed media.  It is mostly spray inks or watercolor pencils and Zentangle.  I enjoy working in this journal from time to time because it takes all the stress and thought out of "what am I going to do" out of it. This journal finds me a little more relaxed and not so demanding.

I used Dylusions spay inks in Squeezed Orange, Pure Sunshine, Vibrant Turquoise and Postbox Red (through a stencil from Crafter's Workshop TCW281).  I then just began to Zentangle randomly with thoughts of  1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love NEVER fails!" My friend, that scripture encompasses the heart of the Father!

Jesus came to manifest that word in the flesh!  He walked on this earth laying that very foundation exemplifying how we are to love one another based on the Father's love for Him. Jesus conveyed to us that He could do nothing by Himself, He only did what He saw the Father doing and said what the Father said because whatever the Father does, the Son does also!  We ARE sons and daughters of the Most High God and as we are created in His image, we are to also do as the Father does!

Love is a profound, all encompassing four letter word!  According to God's Word in 1 Corinthians, it covers a multitude of things.  It is hard to believe that, that one word covers seemingly ANYTHING you could be faced with. Really? Yes, really!  As Jesus, NOTHING in ourselves could make that happen, BUT God in all His glory, extends to us His abundant grace, through the Son, so that in ALL things, at ALL times, He makes His grace abound in us so that we will ABOUND in every good work!!  That is His amazing promise for the glory of Christ!

As a believer, when we receive Christ, we receive ALL that Christ is that we walk in the power of the Father's perfect love!  When we do, we extend that immeasurable grace, love and mercy to another that they too can hope in all things, believe all things, bear all things and rejoice in the truth of His Word KNOWING that love NEVER fails!

Today, won't you share a four letter word with someone? Share L-O-V-E!

Blessings to you as you go!

Fruit of the Spirit!

Good Tuesday morning to all my crafty friends!  I so wanted to post yesterday, but as I went out of town Friday, I had a lot to catch up on yesterday!  I had a glorious weekend in Tryon, North Carolina where I spent time in God's presence with some beautiful women of God!  Today, I want to share a little snippet of that with you.  I say "snippet," because it was such a powerful time in His presence that it would take more space than I have here to express it!

I went up to Tryon for a Wellness/Ministry Conference and it was well needed for my physical body and spiritual body!  While there, we visited an apple orchard and were able to pick our own apples. As I had never done that, it was a beautiful experience as well as a profound one that brought the whole weekend to a glorious completeness! 

Today, I will share a journal spread I had done a few months back, but never shared because I just didn't feel it was the right time, plus secretly, I wasn't sure how I felt about it visually.  But now I know it was all just a part of God's timing for "this moment!"  The Holy Spirit is so awesome how He works in us!

I will try to remember all I did with this page, but I am most certain that I started with applying gesso to my pages and then I used my yummy Silks acrylic glazes in Sky Blue and Pretty Peridot for the backdrop.  I applied with a brush and used a little water to thin it out just a bit.  I then went back in with gesso and move it around with a baby wipe to make a "cloud feel." I have an awesome background stamp from Lost Coast Designs that I used in the background hoping it would look like background trees, but who knows what it looks like now? LOL! Afterwards I defined the edges with Distress Ink in Broken China and Peeled Paint.

I have a great tree stencil from Crafter's Workshop that I used and just kind of repositioned to how I wanted to see it with Silks Nutmeg.  Just quickly used my Faber Castell gelatos and Big Brush Pens to mimic foliage and then I had some digital apples I cut out and a sentiment that I found in a magazine that I adhered with some Liquitex Matte Medium.  I used my favorite Tim Holtz Worn Text Stamp Set with StazOn for the sentiments and outlined with my white gel pen.

My thoughts on this page were most definitely regarding the character of Christ!  As we have received Christ, we are to walk in His character and ways.  The fruit of those ways, according to God's Word in Galatians 5 are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Those who belong to Christ are to "put off" fleshly ways and walk and live according to the Spirit.

The conference this weekend covered just those things, hence the trip to the apple orchard!  What fruit are you bearing? The fruit you could be bearing are a conscious expression or result of your subconscious root system.  Conscious fruit would be things like sadness, fear, anger, disappointment, negative behavior which would all be an expression or a result of the subconscious roots of negative values, negative attitudes and negative beliefs.  Your fruit can't look like spiritual fruit as long as your root system is not grounded in Christ!  If the fruit you manifest is contaminated you need to go to the root source!  It is there that you can begin to identify what is springing forth the fruit, take it before the Father and let Him begin to heal you from the inside out!

At the beginning of Galatians 5 God tells us "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (v. 1)  Christ set us free on the cross.  It is done!  If we are being held a slave to negative fruit, we are not free! Through Jesus' amazing grace, ALL things are possible!  We can put off that old man and become the new man that Jesus died for and live in freedom and walk in His character and ways!

What does your fruit look like?  I pray a blessing of grace over you today that you would seek the Father and His Spiritual Fruit that you would walk in amazing and glorious freedom!

Blessings

Thankfulness!

Happy mail came to me yesterday in the form of my WINNINGS from Quietfire Designs and Walnut Hollow!  I entered a blog hop over at Quietfire Creations Blogspot and little ole me who never wins anything, was blessed, blessed, blessed with this wonderful win! Thank you wonderful friend Wanda Hentges for your creativity that lead me to their site and thank you Quietfire and Walnut Hollow for giving me the opportunity to win some fabulous products to begin playing with for holiday treats for my loved ones!  Such a blessing to me!

I want to piggyback on several people over on Google+ art community....I am so thankful to ALL the wonderful new friends I have made and have been such an encouragement to me since I have been blogging and sharing my projects!  You guys are just a wonderful group of creative and special people and I have been so, so blessed to get to know you all, glean from you all and receive such wonderful love and encouragement from you all!  A big shout out to a wonderful group of folks! :)

As I was typing this, I was so aware of God's timing!  God doesn't make mistakes.  His plans were formed at the foundation of the earth, so I am so receptive of the seasons He has for my life!  This blog and meeting such other wonderfully talented and creative people was a design for this time in my life!

I am reminded of God's "kairos moments!"  As I have studied, "kairos moments" are God's appointed time to act.  It is a moment in time when the Holy Spirit draws near to do a special work in and through a person or a group of people to do God's will.  I don't take things for granted and I certainly don't believe in coincidences.  God's appointments are swift, sure and speak of God's readiness to act. It is when we stay in a place of availability, that the Holy Spirit can deliver the power of God to bring dynamic transformations to a person or even a situation.  We just have to stay tuned into what God is doing in our lives and be willing and ready to go when He says go!

For me, for a long time, I was in a place of fear as far as sharing my creativity.  It wasn't until I chose to deepen my relationship with our Father in Heaven and allow Him to do a work in me and work some things "out of" me, that I was willing to share and even start this blog.  Was it a step of faith? You betcha!  But it isn't until we take that step of faith, or engage, that God can begin to move.  We have to be willing vessels! Make no mistake, it isn't anything I did or do that has gotten me to this point in my life, it's ALL about Jesus and what He did on the cross for me!  The further I go with Jesus, the clearer His will for me gets and the further I want to go!

I'm so, so thankful for what Jesus did for me on the cross and so thankful for ALL THE MANY BLESSINGS in my life!  This blog and the sharing of God's gift in me, are all a part of God's timing on His glorious journey in my life!  And ALL YOU CRAFTY FRIENDS are a glorious part of the journey as well!  Thank you all for your words of encouragement and friendship from a heart of gratitude!  May you be blessed back ten fold!

Blessings today on your own journey with the Lord!

Special Moments Last Forever!

Happy Wednesday to all my crafty friends!  I hope your mid-week finds you all well!  I am counting down the days (I know....I shouldn't wish days away), however, this weekend I am going to a Wellness Retreat up in North Carolina and I can hardly wait.  This retreat will also incorporate ministry, so it will be double portion!  I look forward to seeing the fall foliage, fellowship, ministry and deepen my education regarding fitness/wellness.  When you get to be 50 and you still have young children, maintaining a healthy balance is very important!  So excited!

Continuing with my thoughts regarding "time" and how special it is to capture and savor, I finally finished the journal spread that I wanted to share with you today.  I say finally finished, because often times, my journal pages are done in stages around my wife/mommy life!  That being said, a lot of the time, when it's done in stages like that, I like the end result better because I had time to think things through and not just hurry through a spread.

I began this page laying down some gesso because I knew I wanted to use my lovely gelatos in this spread.  As many of you know, they DON'T move so well on a page unless the gesso comes first!  I then just randomly scribbled down butterscotch, tangerine, lemon, mango and pistachio, in no order and then smudge a little bit with my fingers and then ended up moving the rest with water. I finished it with chocolate around the edges along with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  As always, I sprayed a fixative over top.

The internet can be a blessing for us crafters in that we can obtain a lot of free crafty items online from some dedicated and selfless people who want to share their talent and goodness with us. Praise goes up to Debbie-Anne over at Emphemera's Vintage Garden and Karen over at The Graphics Fairy whom I download wonderful graphics from on a regular basis!  Thank you lovely ladies! :)  That being said, the "Time Flies" graphic came from one of these ladies and since I can't remember whom, I thought I better mention both, then I'm covered! LOL  I love that graphic though and have had it on my desk for quite some time waiting for the perfect journal page to use it on!  Some of the other strips came from a paper pack from Teresa Collins called Vintage Finds that I love and, of course, Tim's emphemera pieces from one of his collections.

The stamping in the background came from one of my favorite background stamps that I learned about from Christy Tomlinson and it came from Unity Stamps.  I stamped using StazOn ink in Saddle Brown. And then used various other stamps from past Layers of Life kits from Unity stamps in Saddle Brown and Black.   I stamped the sentiment StazOn black with some cheapo alpha stamp set I got from Walmart on white card stock and cut out and distressed the edges with Vintage photo and lightly stamped over with that same background stamp.  I adhered everything down with Liquitex matte gel medium.  When my daughter saw the page, she said "mom, why did you do that with the hand?"  When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me my middle name was "I forgot!" LOL  So she would tell me to tie a string around my finger to remind me of something I wasn't supposed to forget!!  You don't see that too much anymore, but I know there are those of you out there that do remember that sentiment! LOL

For me the "thing" I don't EVER want to forget is "special moments last forever!"  Time definitely does fly and I want to continue to remind myself that everything matters in life especially the special moments with loved ones.  The last several weeks I have dedicated myself to those thoughts and have tried to make it a point to be more available to my girls and enjoy little moments with them!

Just as we have earthly moments we want to treasure, God treasures moments with His children as well!  He desires to spend time with you and me!  In Colossians 3, His word says "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God!" (v1-4)  Those times that you spend with the Father set you on the path for ETERNITY!  They shouldn't be fleeting moments, or something you have to "make time for," they should be conscious daily patterns of being available to Him for instruction, wisdom and knowledge, correction, and the opportunity for the Him to pour out on you ALL His grace, love and mercy!

Be blessed today as you make DAILY memories with your Father in Heaven that will last for ETERNITY!

Peace and blessings!

Memories!

As a part of Sunday Sentiment I am going to share this quote by George Eliot: "What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined - to strengthen each other - to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories."  I love that!  Memories are forever and when shared with another, what a blessed gift indeed!

Mommy's picture to Abigael

Abigael's picture to Mommy

This past weekend, as she often does, my daughter wanted me to spend "mommy/daughter time" with her.  She is my youngest and still wants to spend time with me, which is wonderful!  Her idea of mommy/daughter time happens to be doing something we both love to do...color!  Yep, I still love to color!  I don't know that I have ever really been good at coloring, but I still love to give it the old school try!  I think something about looking at that box of crayons with ALL those glorious colors seems so inviting to me!  I can make what I am coloring, WHATEVER color I want it to be!  She has a myriad of coloring books and we just sit and pull them all out and color until we just don't want to color anymore.  Part of the fun of it for her is that we don't look at one another's picture until we are completely done and she always puts "to mommy - with a date" on her picture and I do the same on mine.  The best part is when we are flipping through the books to find a page we want to color, we will see one we have done in the past and begin to remember where we were and what we were doing when we had that "color party" together!  It's all part of amazing memories together and will live on as she shares them with her babies one day!

Also as a part of Sentiment Sunday, I did a tag dedicated to my sweet girl as I thought of all of our wonderful memories!  This was a quick and easy tag, but I had the whole idea in my head as we were coloring and so I went straight away into my art closet after our wonderful time together and made her tag. I have an old stamp set (I think it's from Prima - don't quote me on that) with the letter "m" and the sentiment words that go with it.  I clear embossed the "m" first and then I used Dylusions sprays in Vibrant Turquoise, London Blue and Lemon Zest on top.  I heat set the sprays and then used an empty toilet paper roll in black acrylic paint in various spots around the tag. I also dredged the sides through the left over paint. I stamped the sentiments along with a "splotch" stamp from somewhere and then added some ribbon and voila!  Simple and easy!

I have so many wonderful memories from my childhood and the one thing I want my girls to have and carry on are lots of good memories!  My oldest is a "teen" and doesn't have much time for good old mom, but my youngest still loves to spend quality time with me that I cherish! Between the two girls, I know we have lots of time joined together, strengthening each other for many memories to last a lifetime!

How about you?  Are you making wonderful memories today for tomorrow?  Blessings to you!

Throw Back Thursday!

Good Thursday! Phew, its been busy around here and on top of that, it turned back HOT in this balmy state!  Patience has NEVER been my strongest suit, so I am really trying to be patient with Mother Nature! LOL  Fall (real fall) can't come soon enough for me!

So, based on my above statement, I didn't get into my closet last night to have fun, so I will share another Throw Back Thursday!  My girls don't have to go to school tomorrow, so you know what that  means....NO HOMEWORK, NO STUDYING....FUN IN THE ART CLOSET!!

What do you do with all the tags that you just randomly make?  Or how do you store them?  I love tags, they are by far my favorite thing to play around with.  I just put all my tags on little binder rings. They are perfect for that, cheap and you can simply just hang them on a hook. Voila!  They are usually for my own perusal, but I have, in a pinch, flipped through them for a quick gift for someone by just adding embellishments.

I was flipping through my rings and found this one that I really liked.  Can't say that I recall everything I actually did to this tag, but I am quite sure it was done using mostly acrylic paints on the background and through some stencils.  I loved the balloon that I had gotten as a free online digital somewhere and stamped a ruler stamp, that I think is a Tim Holtz stamp (it's been so long) and then used the sentiment stamp with ColorBox ink and clear embossing powder.  Not a whole lot going on here, but just fun to do and fun to look at as you dream about boarding that balloon and going who knows where?

How do you store your tags?  In a book?  On a hook? Do you keep most of the tags for yourself or do you do them for the intent of gift giving or selling in a small shop somewhere?  A lot of the tags I do are just as random fun for myself, but I also do certain tags with the intent to give as gifts!  Those are the rewarding ones for me because I know the people I give them to will appreciate them and use them in some fun way.

I hope you have a blessed Thursday evening, whether it's random fun for yourself or whether you are working on what will sure to be a blessing for someone else!

Blessings! :)

Old Things Pass Away!

Good Wednesday crafty friends! I hope mid week is finding you all blessed and planning many wonderful things for the weekend, whether be it crafty or fall festival activities!  They are cropping up everywhere, which I love, and as a matter of fact I will be going to a Wellness Retreat up in the North Carolina mountains next weekend where I will be sure to come upon fall activities galore!  I can't wait!  The leaves will be starting to get glorious and the apples will be ready to come home with me by the basket load!  Yummy!  Can you say hot apple pie?

Today I want to share a journal page spread with you that continues my love for fall!  One of my crafty online friends Ruth was hearing the same tune by the Byrds in her head that I was this past weekend, so I guess my idea can't be all bad!! LOL  She mentioned that weather goes through a sort of metamorphosis like a butterfly and I loved that!  True enough it does.  I don't happen to believe that, that is a mistake!  God NEVER makes mistakes!

The dictionary says that metamorphosis is a profound change in form from one state to the next or a complete change in form. Wow...a "profound change!"  That speaks volumes to me in the Christian perspective!  In Ecclesiastes 3:1, God's Word says that "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."  Spiritually, I believe that is the "profound" change that the dictionary is speaking of.  We, as His people, are to be changing from glory to glory.  In that change, we go through natural and spiritual "seasons," which relate to His Word in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when He says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"  He designed the seasons, naturally and spiritually, that we go through that metamorphosis to be ALL He has created us to be.  We are to be the Glorious Church upon His return!  As we are to be changing from glory to glory (the metamorphosis), you have to leave the old behind, you are a NEW creature in Christ!  Don't look back (He doesn't - it was covered on the cross), press forward to that higher calling!!  Profound, yes!  Eternal, YES!

I started my page by laying some Tim Holtz tissue paper down with gel medium and then pulling out my favorite Faber-Castell Gelatos!  I don't remember the colors, but I know it was like the tangerine and teal and metallic brown color.  I used an old floral stamp set from Prima and stamped across the bottom and then I used a great "lacey" looking stamp also from Prima and stamped on the sides of both pages with StazOn.  I then dipped back into my Gelatos by laying a few deep floral colors on my craft mat, misting and then painting on the flowers.  When I was done it looked ok, but just a little too busy so I took out my gesso and lightly spread on some watered down gesso on top with my fingers just to quiet it down a bit.  I then stamped a some pumpkins from an Inkadinkado fall set I have across the bottom.

I get blessed in my email box weekly with great digital clips from Debbie-Anne over at Ephemera's Vintage Garden so I used some that I had in my file for this spread.  She is so generous with her work and I love all the wonderful ideas that she has!  Thanks Debbie!  I distressed all the artwork with Vintage Photo and then on the tag I also used Antique Linen and Spiced Marmalade.  I fussy cut the diamond pattern off of another digital art piece of hers and put it at the bottom of the tag so that I could match the cute vintage piece of hers.  I used one of the stamps from the same fall set and stamped with Faber-Castell Big Brush Pens very lightly and then went back over the with Gelatos because again, it looked to harsh and I wanted a soft look and then added my sentiment and some twine.

I wanted a little more texture so I mixed some molding past with some acrylic paint and put through one of my fave stencils from Balzer Designs at Crafters Workshop.  Then I just began to adhere the pieces down with Aleene's and did some shadowing with Faber-Castell Big Brush Pens.  The big sentiment is also from that same fall stamps set and I simply stamped it with Colorbox and clear embossing powder.  I enjoyed the warm feeling of it all!

What do you need to leave behind today?  Forget the former things and do not dwell on the past because YOU, just like that beautiful butterfly that, through metamorphosis, became a new creature, YOU through the blood of Christ are also a new creature!  You press onward my friend from glory to glory to the prize!

Blessings today!

Challenges:

Anything But a Card Challenges No. 40

God's Love for Me!

I rarely share much about myself and pictures are even more rare!  We are, as they say, our own worst critic, so I don't share much about me personally.  I will share about who I am in Christ through my art and that's what I want others to see.  So today's post will be a little different!

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to our National Fair this weekend with my girls and family members. We had a ball!  I love spending time with my family as we are all a bunch of nuts to be sure!  We love to act crazy, are loud, full of life and love for one another, did I say loud...LOL!! Basically, we just love getting together and having a good time!

As I spent this weekend with my family, I didn't have the opportunity to play in my art closet, so I thought I would share a little bit of me with you; you know, a face with a name kind of thing!  As this is a rare look at me in a photo, please enjoy, it probably won't happen again...LOL!!!  I do love, however, sharing my sweet girls!

I haven't always known that God loved me.  I was an adult before I developed a relationship with Him. I don't look back too much because as Christian, I am pressing toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus, so that doesn't involve looking back.  That being said, I DO KNOW from where I came from and am so thankful for that relationship with Him.  Knowing God loves me has never been more evident than in the gift He chose to bestow upon me in my two beautiful children.  I started late in life, but I believe that was all a part of God's plan for me and my husband. They are a part of my treasure starting here on earth!  I KNOW He loves me, if He will trust me with His own! His very Word says that "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him!" (Psalm 127:3) Reward indeed! A blessing that my heart can't describe!

I'm so thankful for these two sweet gals!  My oldest Adriel is 14 and my youngest Abigael is 11.  We have our moments, to be sure, but I thank my Father in Heaven for these sweet girls and teach them about His love that it be planted in their own hearts to carry on to the next generation! Sometimes I want to have a rummage sale and offer two for the price of one, LOL, but mostly I just want to put them in my pocket and keep them close to me forever!  I'm just thankful to God for them EVERY DAY!

We had a wonderful time this weekend!  It all seemed to go by so fast! I pray you all had a lovely weekend as well!  Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to show you God's love for me! :)

Blessings!

Sunday Sentiment.....on Monday!

As a part of amazingly talented Zsuzsa Karoly-Smith's creative blogging weekly link party, Sunday Sentiments, the sentiment I'm sharing with you today is:

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" Psalm 107:2

This verse comes from God's Word in the Psalms which I love!  I am His redeemed whom He delivered out of the hand of the enemy!  If we have been reconciled back to the Father through the precious blood of His Son, Jesus, then we ARE the redeemed!  As such, we should not only say so, but SHOUT it!

I think of my youngest daughter who frequently has nightmares and I tell her that there is NO fear in Christ.  She has victory over that fear because of the work on the cross!  We HAVE BEEN redeemed out of the hand of the enemy!  That means NOTHING he can do can hold a candle to the power we have OVER HIM through the blood of Christ! We CAN DO ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens us! We have been given the power and authority to trample on serpents heads!  That is a SIGNIFICANT promise for believers to understand and grasp a hold of! Be encouraged and strengthened this week, you redeemed of the Lord!

I shared this journal spread on Google+ sometime back, but had not put it on my blog, so many of you have seen it!  As I can't upload on the weekends because I do not have internet at my home, I will share on Monday's for the week!  

Thanks Zsuzsa for another way to share our creativity and thoughts!

Blessings!

Throw Back Thursday!

Good Thursday all my crafty friends!  Hope you all are gearing up for a wonderful weekend!  It's the time of year for our Georgia National Fair and people come from all over.  It kind of signifies "fall time" here and people look forward to it every year.  My girls love a good fair, so we will be partaking in the fun this weekend and that always means the "fine" fair food they make available!! This, of course, can only mean one thing.....major Monday at the gym!! LOL  It will be worth it to have fun with the family!  Hope you are planning a "fair" outing!

I have been quite busy this week and haven't had much time in my art closet, so there are unfinished projects on my table.  So I thought I would borrow a phrase from my daughter that she and her pals use on a social network..."Throw Back Thursday!"  I'm certain they use it for something different, but I am going to use it to pull from a past project that I haven't shared because of my slackness this week.

During my art journey I came upon a form of art called Zentangle.  I really found it by accident because I was looking for something else regarding my nature journaling.  But when I found it, I was so intrigued that I had to try it.  When I did, I was smitten.  It's an addictive form of art because it's really just patterns (how easy is that) put together and the end result is usually wonderful.  In fact you look at it and go..."did I do that?"  I love to Zentangle and I have a whole journal dedicated to it as well as a "tile" book with all the tiles I have done.  It's an easy fun thing to do just sitting around watching T.V. or sitting outside.  You can also get as intricate as you want to with larger pieces.  I did a large piece last year for my mom who lives in Santa Fe, NM of a Kachina doll that turned out so nice.  I was in such a hurry to get it into the mail before Christmas that I forgot to take a photo of it. But maybe one day I can get a good photo to share.

So as a part of Throw Back Thursday, I wanted to share one I did last year at some point and time.  It is on a 5x7, not your traditional "tile." 

I found it on my art table when I was shuffling through scrap sheets for my art journal.  This one probably took a little more time to do than some because of the size and some of the small detailed Zentagle patterns, but I liked the result.  It was fun!  I haven't done as much Zentangle lately as I would like to because I have so addicted to my art journal, but maybe this will jump start me! LOL  I enjoy seeing all the areas of creativity that God has placed in me. I think it kind of keeps me balanced in the art world and not just stuck on "one" thing per say!  LOL  Sounds good anyway doesn't it! LOL!

Do you Zentangle or have some other form of art that maybe you have put to the side briefly?  Don't let it die!  Pick it back up and dust off the cobwebs!  It's just one of the facets of the "whole" that makes you uniquely creative you!  I'm thankful for ALL His many Gifts in Me!

Blessings to you today!

Delight in the Lord!

Good Wednesday to you all!  I hope this day is finding everyone full of joy and peace and being the first day of October thinking and dreaming of wonderful fall festivals, fun state fairs, pumpkins, yummy pies and beautiful colors!  It goes without saying that fall is my favorite time of year and one that I delight in very much!

Today's tag that I want to share with you is out of my heart of delight!  Delight for those wonderful things God has provided me, yes, but also just plain delight in the Lord!  A scripture that I love in God's Word says "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10  When I close my eyes and let those words come forth out of my mouth, I am consumed with love and adoration for my Father in Heaven and have a heart filled with honor and glory for His Son who died for me!  How could one NOT delight in a Father and Son who sacrificed ALL for them?  What an amazing love story!

When you have a heart of delight for the Father you will indeed take joy in doing the will of the Father because His instructions will be written on your heart! (Ps 40:8)  There would be no other way to do His will!  We as believers don't do the Lord's will out of condemnation or fear, but simply because He consumes our heart!  We are in such reverence that the only response would be one of delight!

I love doing journal pages, but tags have to be my favorite thing to do!  I started the tag by spraying some yummy Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Chartreuse through Tim Holtz's Burlap Layering Stencil. I love Heidi's sprays!  I then took my fabulous Tim Holtz Distress inks in Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo on and around the edges of the tag.  I then placed Faber Castell Gelatos in Metallic Mint, Guava, and Metallic Melon on my non-stick craft sheet and spritz some water and placed around with my finger and a small brush.  I love how you can manipulate Gelatos, they are so much fun!  Then as always because I don't want what I have done to be moved or compromised I spray a fixative on it.

As it was drying I took my new Unity Stamp Layers of Life for the month collection and stamped on book page and craft paper with Faber Castell Big Brush Pens in Scarlett Red and Permanent Olive Green and Red Violet.  If you will remember the journal page I did the other day with the angel that I found from that awesome flea market find dictionary....well I looked up delight in that same dictionary and cut that section to use on the tag with some art paper that I had in my stash.  I stamped the sentiment with Big Brush Pen in Nougat and then further detailed with a Pitt Pen in Sepia. I then distressed all the pieces with Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade. I adhered it all down with Liquitex Gel Medium along with a piece of emphemera and twine.  I added some fabulous ribbon that I found at the dollar store (I love when that happens), some stickles to accent and voila!

What do you delight in? When I think of my Lord, my heart will ache with love and delight.  If that is how it is for me, just think how His heart aches for me and for YOU!!  Think on that today!

Blessings on your first day of October!