Today's image was what I had hoped to have for you last week, but it was not quite ready. I made this by request of NanaConnie of Grammy's Attic. During the month of December I offered to take requests from anyone who made something with one of my images. NanaConnie's request was for an image of my son's ragdoll cat doing something cute.
Sebastian loves to play with his cat teaser toy and performs many daring feats, such as back flips as he attempts to catch the feathery ends. Sebastian's nickname is Smooshy, because of how he melts into our arms when we hold him.
Sebastian also has a big, fluffy tail of which he seems especially proud. I made an exaggerated version on his cartoon counterpart - Smooshy the Cat.
And here he is, Smooshy the Cat, along with outside and inside sentiments for your card creations.
Thanks for stopping by and thank you for your understanding when I did not have an image for you last week.
I apologize for not having a new
image for you yesterday. I have been working on an image, by request,
but it is not quite ready yet. In the meantime, I do have a new birthday
verse for you to use on the insides of your cards.
I am on a creative devotional journey at His Kingdom Come called "Take Me Deeper". His Kingdom Come is a free online community for Christians who want to express their faith in creative ways.
This year's Take Me Deeper journey includes bi-weekly devotionals. On the 'off weeks' a guest artist shares a journaling technique. This week's featured artist is Susan Hiles and she shows some techniques for bible journaling. For my background I used Week Two's technique for my "I am" statement - a peeled paint technique, demonstrated by Shonna Buccaroff.
I decorated with die cuts. The flowers are K & Company and were in my Christmas stocking. The others came from a friend. Her husband is our accountant. When he showed up yesterday to do my husband's books, he came with an arm load of crafty goodies, plus a huge family bible that my friend picked up at a thrift store. I'm not sure what I am going to do with that yet. Any suggestions?
Here is the back of my mini album page, with this week's scripture on it:
"For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. and having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory." (Romans 8:29-31)
Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you find many hidden blessings in your life this weekend.
This is a quick post, just to prove that I have done some faith art journaling this week. Nothing fancy here, which is okay because faith art journaling is not about producing great art. It's about connecting with the Creator.
Here are some notes I took at a prayer meeting on Saturday. I used to hate taking notes in a linear fashion. I would miss more of what was being said while I tried to get down every word. I retain more when I doodle phrases and words in creative ways.
This next page (in the same journal) I started the Sunday before last. I just did the drawing at that time. I have been taking only a box of Crayola crayons and a package of mini InkJoy coloured pens with me lately. I would like to say that I am trying to discipline myself as an artist by limiting my supplies, but the truth is that my art bag has been too heavy and causing me back pain. (grin)
Some of my notes I did on Sunday, but I added quite a bit more last night during our at-home family worship and prayer time.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope to be more active on here next week. I am presently very busy preparing lessons for my mid-week children's ministry, kids church and (the big one) teaching World War I history to a group of home school children - all taking place this week.
Did my title get your attention? Yesterday a dear friend gave me three BIG books of discontinued wallpaper samples. She was clearing out some of her gallery stash and thought I could use them. Ah... YES!!
First, I poured over the lovely pages for nearly an hour, "oohing and awing", running my fingers over the different textures. There was even a huge sheet of vellum at the front of one of the books. Ooh boy, I got excited about that. Now, if you are an avid paper crafter you know exactly the state of bliss I was in over those papers, but it is probably a good thing my son had his computer headphones on or he might have thought I'd completely lost my mind. Then again, he may already be resolved to that.
Anyway, my friend is just getting her feet wet with faith art journaling, so I decided to make her a little sketch journal with some of the papers, as a thank you gift.
I started with one big sheet, folded it in half lengthwise, then in quarters horizontally. I sliced the the top seam between the first and last quarter pages and used Washi tape as a border and to seal my pages.
This style of journal gives the option of leaving two of the end pages open as pockets. I divided the pockets down the center with double-sided tape and made tags (out of file folders) to fit into each of the four pockets.
For the cover design, I cut two roses out of a different wallpaper page. I adhered the pink rose directly to the cover. I first glued the yellow rose to a scrap of file folder, to give it some stiffness, and cut around the rose. Then I adhered it to the cover with foam tape. I used stickers (I got these on clearance at Michael's last week) to finish off the design and define it as a faith art journal.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday and that you were able to pick up this week's free image in my previous post.
It is Week 3 of the Take Me Deeper spiritual journey at His Kingdom Come and Tonya Andrews (One Christian Chick) has once again brought her 'let's have a chat y'all' flavour to the devotional.
The theme for January is "Come as You are" and this bi-weekly devotional is about being chosen. The scripture is John 15:16 and I took my verse from The Passion Translation of the bible.
"You didn't choose me, but I've chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. and your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you!"
I cut up the verse and pasted it around my hand-drawn and coloured tree that contains an original Tickell Expressions verse. My background is painted with a doily added. I used fruit and flower stickers to dress it up.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I look forward to reading your comments and I hope you will check out the free Christian community at His Kingdom Come.
Today I did some art journaling in my bible after meditating on just a portion of one verse for the last two days.
" Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky?"
Let me put it into context for you. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he appeared to as many as 500 people (1 Cor. 15:6), over 40 days, speaking about the Kingdom of God. He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit which was promised by his Father. He said they would be filled with power and would be his witnesses.
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight. (vs.9)
But they kept staring intently into the sky (vs.10) until two men, dressed in white, were suddenly standing beside them, asking them why they were staring into the sky.
Now, I don't know about you, but I think that was a very natural reaction. I mean, somebody just floats into the sky and disappears into a cloud? I think I would be wondering what might happen next and I sure wouldn't want to miss a thing.
I always thought the point of this narration was to confirm how Jesus will return - the same way his followers saw him leave. He went up into the clouds and he will return in the clouds. There are other scriptures to substantiate this, so there can be no mistake.
But I felt the Lord wanted me to take a look into a deeper meaning and even to find a now-life application for it.
Just before his death, Jesus urged his followers to love one another deeply. (John 17) After his resurrection, he talked mainly about the Kingdom of God and urged them to wait together for the gift of the Holy Spirit so they would be filled with power to be his witnesses.
Jesus' followers during his earthly life got to walk with him, talk with him, eat with him, minister with him and witness first-hand his mighty miracles. Peter even got to walk on the water with Jesus. The 12 disciples got to see food multiply as they served it from their very hands. What could be better than all of that? But Jesus said that it would be better for them after he went. (John 16:7)
After Jesus left and after the promised Holy Spirit came to baptize, empower and live on the inside of his followers, everything was different. It was a brand new day; a brand new era. Nothing would ever be the same again.
I have had the extreme privilege and delight to walk through some moves of God's Spirit in the earth that I would love to re-live over and over again. And I believe we are on the cusp of another great move of God, quite possibly the greatest we have seen since the beginning of the church age. Many have been prophesying this. But will I miss it because I am staring off into the sky, intently waiting for the signs of revival I have experienced in the past?
The prophets have also said that God is about to do something new. I think when God does something new it isn't like our "new and improved", meaning shinier, a new paint job, or smelling nicer. I think it is NEW as in something we have never seen before. Let's not forget who created the entire universe out of his marvelous imagination.
I like how the Easy to Read Version puts Isaiah 43:19:
A new plant. Not a copy or even a hybrid. The first Christians were unlike anything the earth had ever seen before. If we rely on what so many prophetic voices have been saying, and what my own heart tells me is true, the move of God we are eagerly anticipating will be like nothing this earth has ever seen.
I am determined to get my head out of the clouds of past revivals. I will wait for the NEW thing the Father has promised and, even though I have no idea what it will look like, I know it will be good because he is a good, good father. That's who he is. And I am loved by him. And so are you, Dear One, whether you acknowledge him, believe in him and ever give him a second thought as you go through your life. You are beautiful and you are loved.
Thank you so much for your patience if you came by for your free image earlier today. I made lots of sentiments to go with this one, to make it up to you. The sentiments are made to fit within the heart. My favourite is the last one. Which one do you like best?
Last Friday (Jan.1) the 2016 Take Me Deeper creative devotional journey began at His Kingdom Come. We are doing bi-weekly devotionals this year and on the off weeks we will have a Creative Prompt and artist tutorial, based on "I am" statements. It is all about discovering our identity in Christ.
Yesterday was such a lovely surprise because we had not one, but two artist tutorials, showing two completely different background techniques. My project today uses Diane Marra's (Adore Him Creations) technique using hot glue, inks and other fun stuff.
Thank you for visiting my blog today. Don't forget to stop back on Sunday when I will have a new digital image for you.
For me, the New Year began with a new Take Me Deeper devotional journey over at His Kingdom Come. HKC is a free online community for Christians who want to explore their faith in creative ways.
Last Friday was the first of our bi-weekly devotionals. On the off-weeks we will have Creative Prompts and artist tutorials based on a set of "I am" statements that explore our identity in Christ.
I am using a small (5x3.5 inch) key-ring type of journal. I made it from various media pages I received with a Gelatos kit. I cut the pages in half to make the size I wanted. My cover page was done on black velvet with a red Gelato, white paint and wooden embellishments.
Thank you for stopping in today. I will have my first page of this little journal to show to you tomorrow. I used a really cool technique and I will give you a link to the tutorial.
As promised, I am back with another creative meditation on my Logos 365 word, Steadfast. If you are wondering what that is, hop over to His Kingdom Come or simply read my post from yesterday.
Another word for steadfast is resolute. Luke 9:51 says,
"As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem."
When we received the Spirit's call to sell everything and move from Ontario to Prince Edward Island in 2003, we had no idea of the years of hardship that were ahead of us. I wonder if we would have been so resolute if we had.
Yet, before we left, a dear praying saint told us, by unction of the Holy Spirit, "Oh it is going to be hard. It is going to be really, really hard."
Of all the prophetic prayers and messages we were given by others before leaving; most of them very joyful; this was the one that later brought me the most comfort. But at the time, I rejected it.
I didn't know the suffering that awaited me when we moved to this beautiful island, but I still believe the plans God has for me (and my family) are good. His plans are for his glory and my reward.
Thank you for visiting my blog today. I wish you many blessings on your day.
Besides Take Me Deeper, another very popular group at the free online Christian community of His Kingdom Come is Logos 365. Each year participants are encouraged to seek God for a word to meditate on throughout the year. This year Diane Marra has provided a free e-book, with student work sheets to walk you through the process of choosing your word. She also has a video where she shares her 8+ year journey of living with a specific word for each year of her life, and how it has enriched her.
My word for 2016 is STEADFAST. Being that I already have a full-sized art journal for my Take Me Deeper art and devotional studies, I wanted something easy to manage and also easy to keep handy, for my Logos 365 word meditations. I decided to use some Mason jar tags - free printables by Sweetly Scrapped. The artwork is so lovely and inspiring, I can quickly make a page for each day's meditation or I can linger if I am able to do so.
This is the cover for my Logos 365 tag journal. I am stringing each tag onto a length of lace as I complete them.
In Diane's free e-book she suggests looking up synonyms for your logos 365 word. I used those on the back of my first page.
Thanks for stopping by. I will soon have more tag pages to show you. I prepared all of my backgrounds in advance, so they should go together pretty quickly, but I don't want to rush through the process either. I am looking forward to seeing this characteristic developed in my life this 2016.
We are nearly a week in to 2016 and another Take Me Deeper devotional journey has begun at His Kingdom Come. Tonya Andrews - One Christian Chick - did the first TMD devotional of 2016. I love Tonya's personable, casual style. She really makes me feel like I am having a fun chat with a girlfriend over coffee and cheesecake.
January's theme is "Come As You Are" and the first bi-weekly topic is Forgiveness. I made a simple page with a heat-embossed resist and Gelatos. Then I printed out the scripture (Isaiah 1:18), cut it up and pasted it onto my page.
Thanks for stopping in. I hope 2016 is starting off well for you.
I hope I haven't posted this before. I don't think I have. I did it quite some time ago. This is an art journal layout I did based on the word "Believe", which includes The Passion Translation of Psalm 37:4.
"If you make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, every longing within you will be fulfilled."
I used mostly acrylic paints and markers in this piece, but there may be some other media in there as well. I just don't remember.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visit. And just in case no one has told you lately..
A Tickell Expressions printable you are welcome to use
There is a new bible Art Journaling group over at His Kingdom Come, with monthly challenges to get you going.
January's challenge is to find a scripture that represents our 2016 Logos365 Word that we chose and do some art based on that. (Logos365 is another group at the free HKC online community)
I did mine based on Philippians 3:12-16. My word is STEADFAST. The verse I highlighted says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
I had already done this part of the challenge, but as I watched Susan Hiles do her art on Habakkuk 3:18, verse 19 grabbed my attention. It says, "The sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights."
Lately I have been a little stressed about the new commitments I have taken on for 2016. This verse reminded me that it is the Lord who gives me strength and even abilities to do the things he has asked me to do.
I used my deer image and some word stamps from the His Kingdom Come FaithArt Products shop. You can access that from the main site too.
Thanks for dropping in. I hope you are off to a great start for 2016.
And here he is, Smooshy the Cat, along with outside and inside sentiments for your card creations.
