Love One Another!

Good Tuesday crafty friends! I am still in a flurry of family trials, BUT God is still good! We currently are seeking an assisted living center or nursing home for my wonderful mother as staying home by herself has become too difficult. So we, for several weeks now, have been amidst doctors and therapists and will be visiting several living facilities tomorrow to make final plans for my mothers new living arrangements. It's a daunting task because sadly, no one EVER wants to think of a parent in that type of environment! I guess we are the eternal children and always look on our parents as invincible and can do anything! LOL I still feel 12 around my mother, so I guess in my heart I don't want to grow up and I don't want her to get old! LOL But God is still God and He takes care of His children, so we are grateful she is still with us and He is making a way for her to continue living on this earth with some quality of life! Thank you Lord!

All that said, I am still trying to get my Week 04 journal page done for His Kingdom come, but in the midst, I was able to do a little crafting over the weekend. I did this project for a dear friend of mine who saw a similar project I had done for another dear friend! When she commented on my post about how she like it, I secretly decided to make her one as well! I love doing things like that and hope she likes it! :)


I got this wonderful cross base at my favorite craft spot, Hobby Lobby. They have so many to choose from so I just snapped up handful during their after Christmas sale. I like doing that because there is always a time that a gift is needed somewhere! LOL

I began this project by collaging Tim Holtz's tissue paper to the cross with Mod Podge, not really caring if it crinkled up in areas or not because I thought it would make for a nice effect. I then sprayed my favorite Lindy's Starburst in Tibetan Poppy Teal over and heat set. I then grabbed a new fave of mine, Finnabair's Art Extravagance Texture Paste in Copper Crackle and put it through Tim Holtz's Harlequin layering stencil. I then simply dripped and splattered on Daler Rowney's liquid acrylic Pearlescent in Sundown Magenta over the cross here and there. The picture doesn't do the cross justice, but all those mica's coming together make for a yummy piece!

I then just enjoyed going through my drawers and  pulling out pieces to embellish the cross with. I did die cut the butterfly and enhance with Finnabair's glitter from the set ABloom. I added another butterfly on top just to give it some volume. I also adhered the same glitter to a cog that I had in my stash. I had another piece of emphemera in the shape of leaves and I embossed it with copper embossing powder from Ranger. I took some cute flowers from Prima and sprayed with Lindy's Starburst spray and the smaller one I added some of the Sundown Magenta from Daler Rowney on the edges.

I hot glued the pieces down due to the weight of the pieces especially the cross. and then I further decorated with some gems and Finnabair's Art Ingredients Glass Beads in Licorice. The final touch was adding the Tim Holtz Chit Chat sticker that says "friend" with a gem. Voila, simple and quick, but with so much love for a beautiful friend!

In God's Word He gives us the command in John that reads "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) God the Father is ALWAYS giving us opportunity to show Him glorious! Nothing shows the heart of the Father more than the Son, Jesus Christ! Jesus came to be a living example, to walk out the Father's commandments in their purest form! As we were shaped and formed in His image, we are to reflect all that Jesus was when He walked on this earth and remains to be in our hearts. Nothing could show the Son more glorious that replicating His acts of love, kindness and mercy to others. I want to reflect Jesus in all I say and do! How about you? I fall so miserably short, but that being said, I want to continually stay in a position where I can further grow and become more like Him! Thank goodness I am made strong in Him where I am weak! 

Take the time to extend God's love to another today! I assure you, the blessing you will receive will far outweigh anything you did to extend that love to them!

Blessings to you today! :)

Renewal!

Good Friday all my crafty friends! Phew.......have you ever just been so glad that it was Friday!!!! It has been a week and a half for me and I am so glad to see the weekend upcoming! I just need to wind down a bit! LOL That being said, I got a lot accomplished, played catch up and am actually seeing some "clear space" on my desk! LOL

Today, I am going to share a tag as a part of "Tag It Tuesday" over on Sheri Whitfield's blog! Now, it's not Tuesday, but as previously stated, I have been behind and hopefully Sheri, won't have a problem with "Tag it Friday......" not as catchy is it??? LOL It's actually a feature that Sheri is hosting monthly (the third Tuesday of each month) as an invitation to have fun and meet new people! Two of my favorite things! LOL Thanks Sheri for the opportunity and I look forward to all the crafty fun!

The Theme for the month of January is new year/renewal/rebirth with a splash of gold. I started today's tag by embossing my tag with an embossing folder from Paper Studio. Afterwards I sprayed the tag with my favorite Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst in Ponderosa Pine Olive and heat set. I then pulled out another favorite art favorite my Viva Inka Golds in Lavarot, Steel Blue and Gold and went over the flowers to pull them out. I then distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and a little more Inka Gold in gold.

I love my Unity Stamp collection sets and so I pulled from a couple to do this tag. As the theme is renewal, I wanted to think ahead for my year and declare and claim a GOOD year! So I pulled a stamp from my Unity Stamp Set called Lasting Thoughts that says "Good things are going to happen." That sounds like a declaration to me, so I went with it! I stamped with Archival ink in black on some craft paper, cut out with edging scissors and then distressed with Distress ink in Squeezed Lemonade and then Vintage Photo. I then just added some glitter glue from Studio and some Art Ingredients glass glitter in Gold Rush from Prima. I also stamped with a stamp from a Unity Stamp set from July 2014 that was a clock and distressed it with the same colors. In addition, I cut a "time" piece from some craft paper and distressed it with Salty Ocean and then Vintage Photo. I stamped the butterflies from the August 2014 set and the April 2014 set in Archival black ink onto some scrap paper that I had sprayed off on. I finished the tag with some embellishments from Paper Studio Spare Parts and then added some twine and ribbon. Pretty quick and easy tag!

I had so many thoughts behind my tag today based on Sheri's theme. But renewal is so refreshing! God's renewal is EVERY day! His grace and mercy are fresh and new every day and NO MATTER what we have face, are facing and will face, that promise remains true! So going into a new year should ALWAYS be a positive outlook knowing that no matter the hiccups along the way, God's grace will be sufficient to press on through and handle what may come! We, as believers, are to remain in a place of confidence in taking God at His very word that He will NEVER leave nor forsake us and that as we abide in Him, we will be under His care! Psalm 23 tells us "The Lord is my Shepherd." In this, we KNOW that the Great Shepherd will care for His flock at all costs, even to the point of leaving the 99 to go after the one until he finds it! That is the heart of the Father! He loves us that much!

The Psalmist in the 23rd Psalm goes on to declare "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!" That is praise literally running out!! That alone, declares that, yes indeed, "Good things are going to happen!" If you are dwelling in His house, have that personal relationship with Him daily and are keeping your eyes fixed on Him, it doesn't matter what you face! He has prepared you a feast before your enemies!!!! That says you have VICTORY over them, through the precious blood of Jesus....you will want for nothing! And, to boot, goodness and mercy will follow you ALL THE DAYS, not some, but ALL, of your life! That is something to get excited about!!

Our Father doesn't promise us that we won't have bad days or even tough times, but He does promise us that He is there in the midst and we can have a peace as we go through! And that because of the work on the cross, WE HAVE VICTORY over anything!

Begin the new year looking through the freshness of renewal and rebirth DECLARING God's goodness for 2015! I KNOW you will be blessed as you do!

Blessings

Faithful Servant!

Good Thursday my crafty friends! Well, I have been off the grid for a couple of days with MANY things on my plate! It's a busy time at my work place planning many conferences and usual first of the year activity, so again, busy to say the least. But, as I mentioned the other day, my sisters and I have been dealing with my mother and now also my elderly father as well. When it rains it pours as they say! God's grace IS sufficient, but I do covet prayers from those warriors out there that God's will be done in both of their situations and my sisters and I would find favor as well as clarity and wisdom while we make decisions on their behalf! I'm so thankful for both of my parents, I have been blessed!

Today the journal page I want to share with you is part of my Take Me Deeper Challenge over on His Kingdom Come and it is the journal page for Week 3. The theme for January is "Transform," and the Week 3 Devotional was for "Transform Submissively." This week's devotional was from 2 Corinthians 3:18 which says "And we all, with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." I LOVE that scripture! As I have stated MANY times before, IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS! We were created in His image, so our transformation would most definitely be ALL about Him, His character and His ways grafted into our very beings! But these things can ONLY take place when we position ourselves so that, that transformation can take place! For me, that position is as low as I can possibly go! Sometimes in His presence, I can't get low enough!! His presence is so awesome, powerful and overwhelming and prostrate is where I want to always be before Him!

I started this project by laying down some Tim Holtz Tissue Tape in spots here and there and the applied my amazing Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays in Tibetan Poppy Teal and Cattail Copper Brown! I know there are a lot of sprays on the market, but by far, my absolute favorite are Lindy's Starburst Sprays! Their colors are true and the mica is amazing! I then stamped some background stamps from a Unity Stamp Set from March 2014  in StazOn Saddle Brown. I then just simply distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

I knew that I wanted an example of being prostrate before the Lord, so I drew a "me," if you will, on an old hymnal page that lovely Mary Brack sent me with this journal. I found it soooo appropriate because the hymn is "Come Unto Him." To transform, you HAVE to go unto Him! I love, loved it and KNOW it was meant for this project. Thank you Lord! After drawing "me" out, I painted my shirt and skirt using Gelatos in Metallic Blueberry and Metallic Melon and Peach. I accented with Faber Castell Pitt Artist Manga Pen Set pens and Distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. I'm no fabulous artist when it comes to "people," but I do what I can! LOL Since I wanted her to look as if she was kneeling down to the floor, I tried to use pop dots towards the back of the torso to help that image! My crude attempt, but it worked, for me anyway! LOL

I also knew I wanted to use a bird that represented a dove or the Spirit of the Lord on my page, so I took this stamp from a Fiskars stamp set that I have called "For the Birds" and stamped on book page, distressed the edges and adhered with mod podge. I then took Aleene's and drew a line around "me" so I could add Finnabair's Art Ingredients Glass Glitter in Gold Rush to it to represent the "Spirit of the Lord" surrounding me. I finished by stamping sentiments and writing scripture verses.

There are so many discussions that could come out of this journal page and for those of you who read my blog know, I am passionate about my Lord and I could go on for days, so I will try to summarize my thoughts! LOL! Submissiveness has gotten a bad rap for some, but for a believer it's the ultimate position before the Lord for Him to do His will in and through you. We have to continually cast our cares before Him, trust Him and heed to His will that He has revealed to us. It is only from that perspective that we can begin to transform into His image, His likeness. Sometimes that place comes at a cost or can be a "thorn in the flesh," but with EVERY sacrifice we make on His behalf, we are given MUCH grace to see it through! As we press through, we are perfected, established and strengthened for that next level that He is calling us to! God gives grace to the humble!

One of the words I wrote on my page was hupotasso. Hupotasso in the verb form "subject," which means to subject oneself, to obey, be subject to. In Luke, Chapter 2, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover and when they went to return home, after 3 days (can you imagine?), they realized the then 12 year old Jesus, was not with them. So they went back to Jerusalem, in a panic I would imagine, to find Him. When they found Him, they chastised Him and His reply was "why did you look for me, didn't you know I'd be about my Father's business!" They didn't understand His meaning! BUT, even though Jesus clearly wanted to be at the temple they found Him at, sitting with the teachers, instead of arguing with His parents, He submitted Himself to them and went back with them to Nazareth. He "subjected" Himself to them AND as He did, He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God AND men!

The work of transformation is by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ in us! As we heed to the Spirit (NOT our own will and desires), when we then engage in His will, immediately the Spirit can begin to work in and through us to shape and mold or transform us into all He has called us to be through Christ! In order to begin to look like Christ, we have to submit all we are to Him as a stance of "I trust you" to do Your will in my life! This is hupotasso, we have then subjected ourselves to Him!

My friends, it is a DAILY dying to self! We have none arrived, no not one! It's a continual state of "becoming!" "Where we allow the Spirit to work in our lives, there is LIBERTY!" 2 Corinthians 3:17 Liberty is my Logos365 word for the year! Humility before the Lord is total FREEDOM and LIBERTY!

Bless you today as you heed to His call on your life!

Toy Surprise Inside

Good Friday to all my crafty friends! When I was a kid, I used to LOVE Cracker Jacks and the best part was the toy surprise inside! They really didn't amount to much, plastic who ha's at best, but never the less, it was exciting to find it inside! So imagine my delight when I found my SURPRISE from just about the sweetest gal in the world in my mailbox yesterday!!!! Unlike the Cracker Jack who ha's, this surprise was gold because it was from my pal Jackie Neal over on Google+!!  Jackie I loved your homemade postcard and it brought the biggest smile to my face! I could almost image being there with that Mr. Snowman! I can't thank you enough for a bright spot in my evening because actually, yesterday was a buzzard of a day and you made everything better! Thank you so much dear sweet lady!

My project today was TOTALLY inspired by my good friend Ruth over on Google+. Ruth is an amazing and talented artist that ALWAYS comes up with creative projects that I just love! Yesterday she shared these wonderful ATC's that she did over on her blog and I just went nuts over them! I love doing ATC's and I LOVE butterflies, so I had to do a couple myself! 

These guys were so much fun to make especially since I already had in my mind what I wanted to do. I started both of these guys by spraying them with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in Ponderosa Pine Olive and then Distressing the edges with distress Vintage Photo. I then applied the corrugated cardboard piece (which I love) that I found in the bargain bin, yay me, with Aleene's.

I have this great stamp from Unity Stamps that I love to use and I simply stamped with Archival Ink in black on some scrapbook paper that I had. I fussy cut it out with some "crafty" scissors that I had and then distressed with Vintage Photo. I love this butterfly die that I got with my Big Shot for Christmas and I have been soooo wanting to use it, so I simply took two different scrap papers, one beige, one blue and die cut the butterflies. I distressed the edges with Vintage Photo and then used glitter from Fin's Art Ingredients line, from the Abloom set on top. Let me just say that this stuff is like sugar! I love it! I finished those guys by making the body with Fin's Art Ingredients Glass Beads in Licorice.

I have a whole tower of Prima flowers that I use in projects. I like the ones I have because they are all beige allowing me to color them to suit whatever project I am doing. I used Lindy's sprays from the same set as before in Ponderosa Pine and Tibetan Poppy Teal on the flowers and then embellished with the same glitter as the butterflies. I also added a little embellishment in the middle on both from, I believe, Paper Studio. I just simply then hot glued both to the ATC's. Lastly I took another favorite of mine from Fin's products, the Art Ingredients Mica Flakes, Frosted, and just randomly glued them around the ATC. What gave me the idea to do that was you know how in the morning when the light is just coming around and you see the butterflies flying and these little white puffs flying around? I love that! Maybe they are shoots off of dandelions, I don't know, but I love how it looks...real magical or something. Anyway, that was the idea! LOL So, voila!

Thanks Ruth for the great inspiration, it was so much fun! What's on your table for the weekend? I hope lots of crafty fun! I will be starting my Week 3 in my Take me Deeper journal over the weekend and I am looking forward to it!

Many blessings for an amazing weekend! :)

Matters of the Heart

Good Thursday all my crafty friends! I hope your week has been going well and you are making plans for a fabulous weekend! I am still playing catch up and I hope after today, I will be right as rain!!

Today, I want to share a journal page that I have done as part of my weekly Take Me Deeper Challenge over on His Kingdom Come.  I am also doing this as a part of Sunday Sentiments over on Inky Dinky Doodle blogspot! The month of January's theme for Take Me Deeper is "Transformation" and Week 2's Bible verse is from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." There is SO much in these verses but the first thing that jumped out to me regarding these verses is that this is the very depiction of the servant of Christ!

One of the main revelations as a believer is that the flesh is weak and susceptible of being ensnared by the enemies tactics of "boasting or taking pride ownership of the very things God reveals to us! We can do NOTHING outside the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, lest He reveal it to us! Paul's story here shows us that even after a revelation, Paul is allowed to suffer what he calls "thorns in the flesh" that he many KNOW the power of the "blood of Christ!" Therefore, the fruit of our trials or "thorns in the flesh" should produce the fruit of humility, obedience and exaltation as we give glory to God!
You can't give glory to God unless you have been transformed and you can't be transformed unless your heart is laid bare and broken before Him, ready to do His perfect will with the mind of Christ, the ultimate Servant! Transformation is a matter of the heart! As we transform from glory to glory His grace, in the midst of those trials or thorns, is sufficient because it is in "that place," our very weakness, that His power is made perfect allowing you to rise above ANYTHING that would try to exalt itself against Him!! Satan's tactics are old and ALWAYS the same with one purpose in mind - to hinder you from the work of the Lord! Our God is greater! God will use the thorns to keep us humble and the focus on Jesus!! 

I want to continually be in a place where my hearts desire is to do what pleases Him! Here I am Lord!

This journal page used ALL kinds of goodness that came to me as Christmas gifts this past year! I have been chomping at the bit to have some of Finnabair's new products, so because of the love of dear family members, I was able to do that for myself this past Christmas! Yay me! LOL

I started this page by putting some of Fin's Texture Past in Copper Crackle through Tim Holtz's Harlequin Layering Stencil and as I am too impatient, I heat set it. My understanding is the crackle will be MORE evident if you let it dry naturally. I then sprayed Lindy's Stamp Gang Starbust Sprays first in Tibetan Poppy Teal and then in Autumn Maple Crimson! Those colors are the ULTIMATE yumminess to me! I love Lindy's sprays! I sprayed a matte fixative over at this point because I knew I would be putting things on top. I then drew my girl figure on book page and adhered with Aleene's and then pulled out those yummy Gelatos and painted her with Peach and Butterscotch.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Finnabair's Art Ingredients products and so I mixed her Glass Glitter in Gold Rush with Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium and added to the bottom surrounding her. I guess I was trying to go for an "ethereal" look, but I really liked it! It's so hard to see how beautiful that product is through my terrible photography, but trust me it is! I had some left over so I skirted it around the page a little as well.  I then placed some of her Glass Beads in Plum around here and there just for some extra texture. I wanted her skirt to pop out and played around with several things but just ended up using this yarn that I had that I love and then took some pieces of lace that I had left over from some Christmas project and added to her waste. Lastly was the "heart" and the message that were both colored with the Lindy's in Autumn Maple Crimson, shaded with Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in Magenta and then outlined with a Faber Castell black pen.  I also added Distress Vintage Photo to the edges for a little extra shading. I really liked the finished product!

God's desire is that you would be a child after His own heart! Seek Him today that you could be changed from glory to glory!

Be blessed!

Trying to Play Catch Up!

Good Monday crafty friends! I pray you all had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was again rushed and busy, so my mind has been in a constant state of catching up! I am blessed to still have my mother still here on this earth, however many years ago, she was diagnosed with MS, which is a disease of the central nervous system. She is totally wheelchair bound, but has been able to live on her own. As she has gotten older we have seen more frequent, what they call exacerbations, which is when she will have a period of "worsening" symptoms of the disease that doesn't make it possible for her to stay by herself. During those times my sisters and I have to trade out staying with her until we can get her in a rehab unit that will provide much needed rehabilitation so that she can get back to her prior state of living. It is, unfortunately, a stressful time for all involved, however as previously stated, I am so thankful she is still here with us! Those of you who love to pray, I would ask that you please keep her lifted up for a quick recovery! I am, therefore, WAY behind on ALL my projects and this week will be playing MAJOR catch up to get back on task!! :) LOL

As I shared last week, I am on board this year, through His Kingdom Come art community, to do a Take Me Deeper Challenge , which is a challenge involving a weekly devotional and Bible verse that will prompt me to spend time in His Word! Since that is one of my favorite places to be, that was right up my alley! For me I will be sharing my reflections through an art journal that I shared that you can find here. They are already on Week 2, and so I am behind and, as I said, will be playing catch up this week and hopefully sharing both! Until then, I will share a quick project that I did for my Take Me Deeper Journal.

On one of my craft store jaunts at the end of last year, I came across these dividers from Heidi Swapp that I believe go into Project Life journals. I don't participate in Project Life, but as they were in the bargain bin for next to nothing, I thought I would purchase them for my TMD Journal that I knew I would be doing. They had some sort of fabric on them that could be sprayed and so I thought that would be neat! 

It was challenging fun doing both of these as it was a trial by error because I wasn't familiar with working on fabric. On both I used the word(s) I had picked for my Logos365 Challenge over on His Kingdom Come, which are Liberty/Freedom. On the divider to the left I simply took Dylusions spray in Calypso Teal through a stencil and then used an old Prima floral stamp that I have with StazOn Midi Ink in Gothic Purple. I then took some old foam letters and painted them with some acrylic paint and then used that same paint through Rebekah Meier's Love Post Stencil, which is one of my favorite! I outlined a few of the patterns and then adhered the letters with Aleene's and then used my white gel pen to give a few highlights.

The divider on the right was more of a trial. Since I didn't know how the fabric would react to different kinds of mediums I decided to stamp on this one and see what happened! Lesson learned...it bleeds and so probably won't do that again! But it didn't look too bad. I started out spraying Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Chartreuse through Tim Holtz's Harlequin Layering Stencil and then Distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. I then stamped using a couple of different stamps in various colors. I used some of those same foam letters which I stamped with Versa Mark and then heat embossed with a black "sparkly" embossing powder. I like how it turned out. My sister gave me this great stamp from Santa Fe that is a Corn Maiden, which is one of my favorite symbols in many of the Native American Nation legends. I stamped it with StazOn in black and then further outlined it with a Faber Castell pen. Voila!

I have shared before that I don't believe in coincidences. I believe the stamp received from my sister was "meant" for my journal and is so appropriate for my mind set with my Logos365 word(s). I look on the Corn Maiden as a type and shadow for Christ! According to tradition the Corn Maidens were created in the palm of the right hand of the Great Spirit who guide the people of the earth. As the people of the earth were not always able to determine what plants and animals were good for them and nourish them as opposed to what would harm them, the Great Spirit sent the Corn Maidens to give the people a single seed of corn that if properly cared for, would feed and sustain them.


Likewise, our Father in Heaven sent His only Son, who sits at the right hand of the Father, to earth to become a man and live amongst us to teach us and show us how to live and walk on this earth. Because of our fallen nature, we had gotten to a point that we couldn't differentiate between what was good for us or bad for us, so the Father sent Jesus to plant that amazing seed, God's Word, into our hearts that if cared for, nurtured and tapped into daily, would feed and sustain us for Kingdom building here on this earth and eternal living in Heaven!!

It is only when we live in freedom and liberty through the shed blood of Christ that we allow God's eternal Word to sustain us for life here on this earth! Without freedom through Christ, anything else we choose to sustain us will fail! Are you hungry today? Do you feel like the diet of this world is lacking suitable nourishment for your daily living? I encourage you today to look to the cross! "And He is before ALL things, and in Him ALL THINGS hold together!" Colossians 1:17 He will fill your belly and your heart and sustain you that you may handle ANYTHING that may come your way on this earth!

Let the mighty seeds of His Word be sown in your heart today!

Blessings

Santa (Papa) Love!

YAY ME!!!!!

Ok, my crafty friends......(RUTH!), Santa sent me some extra Christmas in the mail yesterday!!! Lookeeee what I FINALLLLLY got! :) I have been trying to win (along with Ruth's help) for several months a Sizzix Big Shot! Why you say! Because I am probably the ONLY crafter on the planet who does not have one!! LOL After "fussy cutting" for several years now, I finally decided I wanted one! LOL Unfortunately I NEVER won one! LOL It wasn't without trying so "A" for effort!!

I did receive some Christmas money and was able to get a great buy at Overstock.com on a bundle set that came with some dies and embossing folder! I was stoked! I can't wait to get ALL IN that box and play, play, play! I have been so jealous for years of all the lovely cards, tags and journal projects folks come up with because of this crafty guy! I am now jealous no more!!! LOL

Ruth, my wonderful friend, thanks for the MANY emails and Instagrams letting me know whenever there was a sale or a contest for me to enter! You were ALWAYS looking out for me, my friend! :) It lets me know that I am blessed on so many levels! :)

A big shout out to my Papa because without his never ending kindness and love, this gift would not have been possible!! I sure love him and thankful that I still have him here with me on this earth! :)

What awesomeness did Santa bring you this year! Hope it was merry and bright!

Blessings

Lifestyle Declaration!

Good Tuesday, my crafty friends! Yesterday I shared my new art journal covers for the 2015 year and today I want to share the inside cover and first page stating my Logos365 word!

Yesterday I shared that the seminar I attended back in the fall I feel was God's prerequisite to the finding of Mary's journal for this year. I feel He further confirmed that when I went through the pages Mary sent me to go along with the journal. She sent me some of the pages that actually came from the book that she altered for the journal and one of the pages was the title page for the book which had a apple tree scene on it! When I saw that page, the hair on the back of my neck just stood on end!! I believe I shared with you how we went to an apple orchard, which was all a part of the healing process in this seminar. I KNEW I was going to use that on the inside cover of my journal!!

The seminar I took was by an amazing woman of God, Heidi Finar! Heidi is a devout Christian who is also a personal trainer, exercise class instructor and behavior change consultant. Not to mention she is a dynamic speaker and beautiful woman inside and out! I am coupling her book "God is in Your Full-Length Mirror" with my Take Me Deeper Journal for a complete transformation not just for 2015 but for a lifetime!  I encourage you to go to Heidi's website here and learn more about her and I can't impress upon you enough to read her FABULOUS book! It will challenge you to go deeper in your relationship with the Lord to experience lasting victory not just over food and fitness, but ANY obstacle in your life!

In her book, Heidi uses a Life Tree model to explain the dynamics in human behavior. She states, "The fruit of the tree are behavior that we see evident in our lives. Galatians 5 lists the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. The trunk of the tree represents our lifestyles and habits and the roots of the tree represent values, attitudes and beliefs." She further says, "If I see bad fruit at the top of my tree (negative behavior, sadness, fear, anger disappointment), cutting the bad fruit off will not solve my problem. With the same roots, trunk and branches remaining, I will yield the same fruit again during the 'next harvest'" The fruit of your tree is an outward sign of an inward problem!!! So that means, the solution to your bad behavior (assuming you have any) is "root deep!" That's why the Take Me Deeper journal this year is so poignant and meaningful! I want to go deeper with the Lord to get to the root of my problems and cut them off at the root!! So, hence the apple orchard excursion we went on! It was awesome revelation to me!!!


I simply cut out that tree and used some gelatos to give a little color to the photo and then cut out the saying "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold!" How awesome is that! God's Word says in Luke 6:45 that "the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." If you have a right relationship with the Father, your fruit will be apples of gold! So I used gold Stickles on the apples for color and then I loved that the picker she was using looked like a heart at the end, so I used red Stickles on that apple to represent the apple of the Lord!! I used watered down Sundown Magenta Daler-Rowney Pearlescent Ink for the background and then just took a couple of my Crafters Workshop stencils, branches and ferns and applied Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and Peeled Paint through them. I then stamped "Hope" on as well as applied the "Be Free" sticker that sweet Mary included in my package. I had a old Goodwill find to punch out some of the words that I want to be a result of going deeper with the Lord this year!

The first page that Mary put in the journal was a ledger page with "365" at the top! Coincidence? I don't think so! How awesome is that? So I applied some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Chartreuse through the Tim Holtz Harlequin Layering Stencil for the background and then along the bottom I stamped using an old Prima floral stamp that I have in my stash with various colors. Along the right side stamped a number stamp (thinking of the days of the year) in Archival black ink and then fussy cut out the word Liberty and a beautiful steeple that was in the papers Mary sent me along with the word Freedom that I stamped on book page. My sister sent me that cute cross stamp for Christmas so I also stamped it on book page, cut it out and applied.

My heart for you this year is that you will take the time to go deeper in your relationship with our Father in Heaven! Even if you don't participate in the journal challenge, search yourself for where you would like God to take you this year! He loves you and wants you to know Him more! As Heidi points out in her book, getting to the root of the matters in your life can bring about the process for LASTING CHANGE! I want that, how about you?

Blessings upon you as you make your lifestyle declarations today!

Winning Words for a New Year!!!

Happy New Year ALL my crafty friends!!! I have been on a long and well needed hiatus!! I took off time from work this year to spend time with my family and it was glorious! I hope you ALL had a magical and blessed Christmas holiday and I pray ALL of God's blessings for your 2015 new year!

I have been planning my art "new year" for several months and have had in the works for my art table! As a member of several online art communities I take part in several things that had plans for the new year. One of the things was a new art journal. As a member of His Kingdom Come Christian art community I decided to participate in two of the art group activities they had slated for the new year. I happen to believe that the activities the two groups had slated were a "God thing" and "God designed" for my 2015 year! I don't believe in coincidences and look forward to what God is going to do in and through me with both the activities.

Some of you will remember my pictures of when I went to the conference back in the fall and what a wonderful time I had. I believe that that conference is directly connected to my new projects for the year and God was preparing me then for now. At His Kingdom Come I am part of the Take Me Deeper Group and Logos365 Group and for Take Me Deeper Group they will provide a weekly devotional for an opportunity to translate bible study into art through mixed media, a journal, a photograph, poem or even music! It's all meant to help you apply God's word in your life and art. In essence, you WILL go deeper in your relationship with the Lord. Likewise in the Logos365 Group you were to pick a word to carry you through the year to incorporate into your life, not just for a year, but for a "life change!" I have been so excited about both projects and couldn't wait for January 1st to get TOTALLY on board!

Mary's Altered Book

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Mary Brack who is on several online communities and who engaged me in a blog hop several months back! She is a delightful lady who also alters old book and sells them in her Etsy Shop Found on Brighton. When the journal idea came about I knew immediately that I wanted to purchase one of Mary's journals and alter it further with my artwork for my 2015 Take Me Deeper Journal! The one I purchased was also a "God thing" as well as it had "Winning Words" on the old book and I thought how fitting because I was incorporating my Logos365 word with my Take Me Deeper Journal, which is Freedom/Liberty!  Those words were spoken and prayed over me at the conference that I went to in the fall and God has continued to bring it to me and so I knew that those were my words for this year! So, Winning Words on the front was fitting!

My altered additions

The altered book I bought from sweet Mary is on the left. I really liked the book and again, the title and knew I wanted to preserve that, but I had to figure out how to do that! I already had in my mind what colors I wanted to use as well, so I went straight to work!! The more I got to it though, the more I realized the title wasn't showing through and I just had to back up and punt and decided I would just put the words on there myself afterwards. Here is what I did with her lovely book! What do you think?

One of my favorite mediums is Daler-Rowney RW Acrylic Pearlescent Ink! I just love that stuff! It comes in so many colors and I could use it on everything because it's so versatile and pearlescent is really pearlescent which is awesome to me! I started by applying gesso to both the front and back cover and then applied some modelling paste through a stencil on the front and back. After I dried both I then applied the pearlescent ink in Galactic Blue all over the front and back cover and then dripped the watered down Sundown Magenta in various places. I also smeared it around a good bit in spots with a baby wipe. I then used one of my script background stamp with Staz On Gothic Purple on the background. Afterwards I sprayed both with a matte fixative.

I then just began to apply different embellishments that spoke to me for the cover. I allowed both of my daughters to pick an embellishment for the front so that they would be a part of this project for the year as well. Abigael picked the beautiful lacy mandala and Adriel picked the beautiful butterfly! They did a great job!

I really like how it turned out and I can't wait to see all the wonderful pages that God breathes in and through me throughout the year! Freedom and Liberty are essentially the same word but certainly when you begin to do word studies on each word and particularly from a Biblical stand point of view, you can certainly go in depth with each word. I look forward to my year of VICTORY in many areas of my life as I begin to declare freedom and liberty in those areas of my life that I have not given over to God. This will most certainly be a process, but a welcome process as I aim to become ALL that God has called me to be in Christ!

I can't thank Mary enough for her wonderful altered book and the the extra "goody" pages she sent along with that will also be a nice addition to my art pages throughout the year! If you haven't visited her Etsy page or her blog Me, with my Head in the Clouds, you should, she is a very talented lady! 

Tomorrow I will share a little more of my journal and then later in the week my first devotional page! Blessings to you all today and in the coming year! :)