Grungy Card 2

Good evening Y'all!     I hope you are enjoying this fine evening.    In my neck of the woods right now it is a very pleasant 71* outside as of 8:39 pm tonight.    I love it!    Up to 100* over the weekend, I'll take the lower temps any day!!    I still have humidity hair, and I guess that's not gonna change any time soon.    I know you know what humidity hair is.  

It's when you spend all morning with every hair appliance known to women to straighten your hair.   You get it straightened just perfectly and add a few perfectly placed little rats to give you that perfect height.   You take that one final look at your perfect masterpiece, just after you have sprayed a little hair spray on to keep in place.    You hit the door for that trip out town, just knowing you have this great looking head of hair.    You make stop after stop, just hoping everyone that you come in contact with notices your finely coiffed head of hair.    You have on your nicest smile, and you quickly smile at everyone you meet, but some of the ones you are smiling at are looking a little strangely at you.    Oh well, they must be having a bad day.    You sure hope their day gets better, you pray.    On you go, errand after errand and you are still stylin' and profilin' that snazzy head of hair.    Upon arriving at home, you walk by a mirror and catch a glimpse of someone.   You wheel around and run back to the mirror for a closer look, only to find that someone has replaced that beautiful head of hair that you was sporting so proudly, with a bad fake wig that looks like Bozo's head of hair!     That my friends, is humidity hair!    Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, don't ya'!    hahahaha

This is Grungy Card # 2.   I mentioned it when I put up # 1 the other day.

So, this is my Iris, from Crafters Companion, that I have shared a few times already.   But, I love this stamp and I never get tired of using it.    I stamped it on a background that I cut out on my Silhouette.    The image was created by Penny Duncan.    You can find her blog on the right side of my blog.    I love her designs.    I am trying to use her backgrounds more in my card making.    I loved the loops on this file and used them to run my 1/8th in grosgrain ribbon thru and I really liked the look.   You can also see that I added flat back pearls in the top and bottom corners.

After I colored the  Iris,  with my Spectrum Noir markers, I used my Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star pen on the image to add a little bit of blingy goodness.   It's not real flashy, just very subtle.   It looks really nice in the hand.

I just used it more as a highlight than anything else, but it definitely looks nice.

I had it finished, I thought.   Then I took my liquid pearls and put a few dots of it around the loopy border and I think it really set it off.    The grungy part of this card is the edge of the bottom layer of the card.    I grunged up the edge with a shimmery mauve ink pad.    It doesn't show up as much as I wish it did in the pic.   Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this peek at grungy card # 2.    Three is on it's way shortly.

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with this scripture: Matthew 5:44  "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

In the setting here, Jesus had just called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, to be fishers of men.   And a bit later he called James and John.   Jesus was going throughout Galilee teaching, preaching and healing the sick and diseased among the people.  Word spread all throughout Syria and people started bringing all their sick, hurting, afflicted, hopeless, demon possessed, paralyzed, and seizure ridden people to Jesus and He healed them.   Where ever He went, crowds followed.   So He seen the crowds and went up on a mountainside and sat down.   His disciples came to Him and He began teaching them.    This is where the Beatitudes are.   Jesus taught them many different things.  

Can you imaging being in that class, with the Master Teacher of all time teaching with "authority" of the Kingdom of God!    That is one class I would sign up for in a heart beat!    Of all the things He taught them, He also taught them to "love your enemies."    Can you imagine such a teaching?    Well, that's what He taught them.

Oh, let me tell you, it is so easy for us to love those who love us.   It is easy to pray for those who pray for us.   It is easy, isn't it.   Jesus asked them what was the reward in loving "only" people who love them?    The reward comes from loving those who persecute you and who are your enemies.   Jesus was asking them to not treat them as enemies, but to treat them as people God created, and as "potential" followers of Christ.

Fast forward to today.    He is still asking the same thing of us today.    I have to confess right here, right now, and just be very real with y'all about this.   I have not arrived yet at the place where I can love those who hate me, and pray for those who would persecute me, in the manner that is pleasing to my Lord and Savior.   It is a definite struggle for me.    But...I keep on trying!     I keep asking the Lord to help me with this.    I keep humbling myself in prayer and asking for help.   I struggle every day with this, and you know what, I know I am not the only one with this struggle.    It goes against every thing that we as human beings "feel".   How is it possible to get past the "feelings"?    Well, I won't get past the "feelings" on my own.    As Christians, we are called to live, based on what we know, not based on what we "feel".    Our feelings change, from one minute to another, one day to another.    What we know, never changes.    We know that Jesus Christ gave His life's blood for us to have a right relationship with God.    God never changes!!!    We do!    Our "feelings" change.    In essence, we should treat people based on God's feelings and not ours.    Jesus taught His disciples that all people are created by God, His own special treasure, His own peculiar treasure.    With that knowledge, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.    Easy?     No!    Possible?    Yes!!!     God never asks us to do anything we can't do.    God never sets us up for failure.    When we fail, it is because we haven't called on God for help.    So, if you are like me, keep on crying out to God for help!     That's where the reward is.    When we are calling on God, we are growing closer to our Creator, becoming more Christlike.    Therein is the reward.    Becoming more Christlike.    All Praises to God!!

I hope y'all have a great night of rest and a wonderful day tomorrow.   Good night y'all!  Till we meet again, take care.

Ladybug, sweetpea loves you with her heart and looks forward to seeing you soon!

God Bless Y'all and remember God loves y'all and so do I.   hugs, Patty

Click Your Heels

That's a catchy title, isn't it?     Just you wait and see what it's all about.   ggg    I hope and pray y'all are having  a great day today.     It's sunny, humid, and hot in my neck of the woods.    The sun is good.    The humid and hot, I could do with a lot less of it.    If I remember correctly, back earlier in the year when we didn't think warm weather would ever get here, I think I remember making a promise that I wouldn't complain about the weather.    So.......I'm pretty sure I just broke that promise, y'all.    I really didn't mean to, but, I just don't do very well in the humidity and heat.    Ugh!!!    One thing for sure, I am so thankful for our air conditioner.  

So, back to the title of my post.    I seen a card that a friend had made, +Tina Van Eick.    I loved her card and she shared where she had gotten the stamp from, and I ran as quickly as I could; without knocking anyone else over; to the web site, Paper Wishes, over in my left hand column, and ordered the stamp.   I love it!!!   My card isn't as beautiful as Tina's was, but I do hope y'all enjoy seeing it.   Thanks Tina!

So, this is my completed boot card.   I love this stamp!!!   This if the first stamp I have that is "steampunk".    But, I thought it was so gorgeous that I had to have it. 

The embossed layer is from an embossing folder I ordered the same time I ordered the boot.   It is called "gun metal".   I can see it quickly becoming a fav.  It is a 6" x 6" embossing folder.    I do think I will enjoy that size.   It does fit in the Cuttlebug nicely.   I get grungy with my ink on the edges of my card stocks.   I love that look.

I used my Spectrum Noir markers on this.   I also used a little generic gold ink pen that came in a card making mag that I picked up at Joann's around Christmas of 2013.   I used that to color the gold sections.

Then I used my perfect pearls on each corner and also on the boot in diff places.

You can see the dark raised spots in this pic, that is perfect pearls.   I love that stuff.

The slight glittery finish that you see over the purple (have I ever told y'all I love purple?) part of the boot is my faux stickles.    I brushed on a very light coat just to give it a little bling.    Hey, I gotta get a little bling in, y'all!    I was soooo happy with the outcome of my "steampunk" boot, I hope y'all are too!

As I leave you this afternoon, I leave you with this scripture:

Isaiah 26:3  "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

Chapter 26 of Isaiah, in some translations has the title as "A song of Praise".   This song of praise is addressed to God in the form of a prayer, not petitioning God for something, but making a statement to God agreeing with God and proclaiming His work.   The people had honor for God and only God.   Their hope was in God.    Just as our hope is in God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Verse 3 talks of peace.    Perfect peace is a gift from God.    Peace does not come from anyone else or anywhere else.    We can search a lifetime for peace, but we will never find it, till we trust in Him.    When we place our confidence in God, through the Blood of Christ, then we can have peace over the things of this world that tries to steal our joy and contentment.

People are striving for world peace.    You can't mandate peace, you can't legislate peace, you can't make peace a law that has to be followed.    Peace only comes thru that "individual, personal" relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.   Keep your mind on God!   If you don't have a relationship with Christ, you don't have peace.    It's just that simple.    Peace is based on our "steadfast" trust in God.    Do you have enough trust in God to say, "what ever happens, I will trust God"?    That trust produces internal peace, personal peace.    That kind of trust in God, on a personal basis; each individual having peace; CAN bring about peace on a larger scale.    That is the only way this unsettling world will ever know peace.    Individually.   

If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, thank Him for that and the peace that comes from having a relationship with Him.    If you know people that don't have a relationship with Christ; and we all do; put those people on your prayer list.   We also should pray for peace.    The peace that I pray for people to have is the peace that passes all understanding, and it comes only from God.    May you have peace in your heart today and stay focused of God and all He's doing for you, through the Blood of Christ.

Ladybug, I pray that each new day is better than the one before.   Keep on keeping on.   Sweetpea loves you lots and can't wait to see you, soon.

Have a blessed rest of the day, y'all!    God loves you and so do I!   hugs, Patty

Grungy Card # 1

Good evening y'all!!!    I hope y'all are enjoying this fine day.    The temp has been back up in the mid to high 90's in my neck of the woods today.    That is a huge change from the last few days, when we had temps down in the 50's.    Yikes!!!!    Get out the winter coats, no...put them up, wait a minute, get them out again!     Oh well, it keeps us on our toes, doesn't it?    We did get a little bit of rain too, while the temps were lower.    It really was a blessing for the farmers, whose crops were about to burn up.    Some of the corn crops we had seen were just about ready to start twisting from being so thirsty for water.    So, it kinda looks like we may be back to what is considered more normal temps.    Hot, sweaty, and sticky!    Not my three most favorite words, but as long as our air conditioner works, it's all good!    hahaha

I have been working on some new cards and I wanted to share one with y'all this evening.    How many of you have trouble with remembering you have supplies and all kinds of tools and things to use in your card making and paper crafting?   I am awful about forgetting to use some of the stuff I have.    I get so focused on one thing that I forget about some of the other things that I can be using.    So, for this card and a couple more, I tried to use more of my stuff and I was happy with the outcome.    I hope you are too.    I do have a tendency to get a little on the grungy side of life when making cards, but that is just my style.   Where a lot of people choose to keep their cards stark and pristine white, or what ever the colors are, I choose to use a lot of ink and smear it everywhere.    I just like the looks and enjoy it.   I hope you do too.

This is the final outcome.   I thought I would show it first and then show you the other three pics I took of the card "before" I added the liquid pearls dots to the sides and top and bottom corners.   In this pic, the flower looks blue, but in reality, it is the color of the bow.    But, I started with a white card base and then I added a lt. gray layer that I ran thru my Cuttlebug with a barbed wire embossing folder.   You can't see it very well.    But, I took a darker gray studio brand ink pad and then rubbed it over the embossed area of the layer.    Then I took my top layer and used memento black and stamped my magnolia and colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.    Then I took a little bit of grosgrain ribbon and tied two lengths together and clipped the ends and used one of my home made glue dots to adhere the ribbon to the front of the card.

Ok, the above pic WAS the finished card until I eyeballed my liquid pearls and added those to the card.    I really think the liquid pearls added a lot to the card.    The flower looks blue in this photo also.

This is what I really love and it does not show up at all in the first two pics.    I took my Sakura Clear Star Dust gelly roll pens and went all around the edges and the highlights of the design.    It just adds such a subtle sheen to the card.   I absolutely love it.    It really makes me happy.    I'm gettin' my bling on!   By the way, this is the real color of the flower.    I don't know why it is blue when in the full front pics, but it is.   ggg

I tried to get a couple of pics at an angle to show the glimmer of the gelly roll pen.   I love it!    Around the edge of the flower layer, I used a shimmering copper ink pad just swiped over the top of the card ever so lightly.   I grunged up the edge of the white card layer, the gray layer, and the top card layer.    So, it is really grunged up, but that's what makes me happy.    I do have a couple more to share in the near future.    I really hope you like this card and enjoyed seeing it.

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with this scripture:   Psalms 147:3  "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

I LOVE this scripture!!!   It shows how God is at work in our lives extending grace and mercy to His people.    Read the whole chapter.    It is very uplifting.

Verse 1 says Praise the Lord.    Then it proceeds to tell why we can sing praises to the Lord.   He builds up, He gathers the exiles, He heals the brokenhearted, He binds their wounds, He knows the stars and has named each one, He sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground, He covers the sky with clouds, He supplies the earth with rain, He makes the grass grow on the hills, He provides food for the cattle and the birds of the air, He delights in those who have reverent fear for Him, He delights in those who put their hope in Him, He gives strength, He gives peace.    Every thing in existence exists because God created it for a reason.   Nothing that God created can cause God to have fear.   God knows no fear, because He created everything.

We live in a world of uncertainty.    But, it is not uncertain to God.    He knows all about His creation because He is actively involved in His creation.    He also knows there is evil in the world because we, God's greatest creation, have "free will".    In our "free will" we either choose to serve God or we choose to ignore God.    In our ignor-ance of God, we choose evil.   We choose to inflict pain on others.    That is a choice that we make.    We can not sit on the fence.    We choose to serve God or we choose NOT to serve God.    Back to "not sitting on the fence", I heard it said the reason we can't sit on the fence is because the enemy, the devil, owns the fence.    No choice IS a choice to not serve the Lord.    Since we know there is pain and heartache due to people choosing NOT to serve God, we know that God does heal the broken hearted and God does bind up their wounds.

I know that God has healed my broken heart and He has bound up my wounds.    I pray that if He hasn't healed your broken heart and bound up your wounds that you will choose to let Him.    Christ died on the cross for my sins and your sins. Sin is a word we don't like to acknowledge, but until we do acknowledge sin and confess it, repent of it and invite Christ to be Lord of our lives, we will keep on hurting and being hurt.    "Hurting people hurt people."   That's just the way it is.   I can speak of that with a "been there, done that" knowledge, because I've "been there, done that".    I'm sure you have been there too.    Or you may even be there now, but you don't have to stay there.    Change is as close to you as whispering "help"!    Jesus Christ is ready to help you, but He is a gentleman, He will not force Himself on anyone.    But, just as quickly as you can say, "help", He will.

So, I sing praises to God for the help He has given me in my life.    I sing praises to God for the help He has given you.    I sing praises to God for the help He is waiting to give to those who are ready to receive His help.    Thank you God for loving Your creation enough to provide us help through Jesus Christ!!!

Ladybug, I sure hope you are feeling better and look forward to the days to come for you.    Sweetpea loves you bunches!!!

I hope you seen or read something here this evening that you liked.   If so, tell someone.   Share it, pass it on, just don't sit on it.   ggg

God love y'all and so do I.    Till next time, hugs, Patty

July Card Ministry and I'm Home again

Good evening Y'all!!!!    I hope and pray that y'all are enjoying the slightly cooler temps today.    It is just a bit cooler in my neck of the woods than it has been in the last week or so, so I am so thankful for that.    I do not do well at all in the sweltering heat.    When my "petunia" (me) wilts, it ain't "purty"!    And my petunia has been wilted for so long, that it will take more than one little cool day to help me perk up.    gggg

I have been away for a few days and finally got back home and it feels good to be home.    One of the first things I have done is get my hair cut.    Oh my, I needed a cut so bad.    Does anyone remember the mops that looked like stringy hair, well, that's what my hair had began to look like.    Thick, hot, and stringy!    No more!!!!    It is now off my shoulders!!   Yay!!

Before I went to Kentucky, I had went to Card Making Ministry night at church and we made three beautiful cards.    I did not get them posted before I left, so I thought I would post them today.    I am always in awe of my friend that gets all the cards together.    She always comes up with fun and fresh cards.    There was five of us that was at card making and as usual, we all had a ball.    It is always fun to get together with friends and have a good time while serving the Lord.   For people who say Christians don't have fun, they just haven't been to one of our card making evenings.

We made three cards again, that is the usual number.   I took pics and wanted to share them with you.    I hope you enjoy them and can get ideas and inspirations from them.

I really like the freshness of this first card.    The first layer of the card front was embossed with an embossing folder and then the end was cut with a matching die.   I love the flowers.   We cut them with the big shot and Stampin Up die and and then stamped them with the matching stamps.   Then we put some pearl halves in the center of the flowers.   The leaves was punched with a Stampin Up punch.    We used a 1/8 th inch wide piece of grosgrain ribbon and taped it to the back side of the first layer of the card front.   Then attached that layer to the teal layer of cardstock and then attached that to the card.

I think this is my favorite card.    It reminds me of a hula skirt.   I just think it is the cutest thing.    The lady in charge of the card ministry had gotten a new toy and she is always ready to share with us.    She had gotten a pair of scissors from Stampin Up that cuts several strips at one time.   So these little strips was soooo easy to cut.    I'm pretty sure the yellow band across the top layer of fringe is also a Stampin Up die, as well as the little flower and the button.    The little salmon colored spots just make me happy.   I love this card, and hope you do too.

This was the more elegant of the three cards.    Red, black and white.    It really doesn't get any more elegant than that.   I love the little blinged up bird in the birdcage.   The red ribbon was originally supposed to be wrapped to the back side of the black layer, just underneath the patterned paper, but I forgot it and did not want to redo my card.    So, when I got home, I dug around and found my red ribbon and cut a couple of pieces and knotted them together and trimmed the ends pretty close to the knot.   I then used one of my home-made glubbers and stuck it to the corner of the white layer.   I love that we can make them all personalized in some way.    There is no such thing as a mistake, just creative license.    ggggg     I hope you enjoyed seeing the cards we made.

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with this scripture:  Habakkuk 2:4  "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith."

Habakkuk, the prophet was asking God some hard questions and one of those questions was, how God could use such a wicked people as the Chaldeans to bring about His purpose.    And in the dialog between God and Habakkuk, God showed him that the righteous shall live by his faith.    His faith in God.    What is the distinguishing mark of  a righteous person?    Their faith.    When all goes wrong, they persist in their faith.    The righteous will "not" be puffed up in pride.    The righteous will "not" be oppressing anyone.  

Does anyone ever try to make you feel like you are less than they are, in your service to the Lord or in your worship or in your relationship with the Lord?   If they do, guess who the one is, with the not so great relationship with the Lord?  Not you!!!   It has been my experience, that when someone is doing that, they are trying to make themselves feel better about themselves, (puffed up with pride)  by trying to use me and my relationship with the Lord as their measuring stick.   Never compare yourself or let yourself be compared to anyone or by anyone.  The only measure we are to use is God.    And according to God's measure, we ALL fall way short of His Glory.    Don't justify your behavior based on mine and I should never justify my behavior based on yours.    Both of us will come up way way short of what God expects from us.

Those who are "puffed up" with pride will try to force their attitudes on you.    It has nothing to do with righteousness.    A friend of mine told me that some of her friends had told her that she was "settling for mediocre" in her relationship with the Lord.    I told her to brush that conversation off her shoulders and to not let that settle on her.    A lot of people build them selves up by trying to making someone else feel bad.    I told her to let God be the One to speak to her in regards to her relationship with Him.    I have been around people like that my whole life and all they have succeeded in helping me see, is that I don't need what they have.    Puffed up pride always tries to belittle other people or hold them captive to envy and jealousy.    God is the One in whom you and I have placed our faith!    Wait on the Lord to reveal to you what He wants you to know, He will!    If, while speaking with someone who claims to be a friend, you end up feeling bad about your relationship with the Lord, or you feel like your relationship does not measure up to theirs, don't feel bad and don't fall for their evil intentions.   A true friend will "help" you have a better relationship with the Lord, without making you feel bad about the relationship you do have.   We are either a stepping stone or a stumbling block.   My prayer is that we will always be found being stepping stones.    We never want to be a stumbling block for anyone.    My faith is in God, alone.     Not in the words, actions or deeds of any other.    I pray that your faith, too, is in God alone.

I pray for you to have a wonderful night of rest.    May tomorrow be a great day for each of you.    Thank you for visiting tonight.   I hope and pray that you can take something good away with you tonight.

Ladybug, I pray you are doing good and enjoying the cooler temps.    Have a great night.    Sweetpea loves you!

Goodnight, Y'all.    God loves you, and so do I.     hugs, Patty

Experiment Gone Good

Hahahaha, what ever could I be talking about?    Well, you'll find out in a bit.    But, for now I wanted to say that I hope and pray all y'all had a wonderful weekend.   Here in the United States of America, it was "Independence Day" weekend.    When we say "4th of July", it lacks the enthusiasm that "Independence Day" has.     4th of July is more generic.    Independence Day automatically has what the day is all about in it's name.    We need to always remember that Freedom comes at a very high cost, it isn't free.    Most of us in the US, knows someone or knew someone who has fought for or died for this great country.    Most of us have had relatives down thru the years that have fought in or died in all of the battles and wars that this great country has had part in since July 4th, 1776.    I don't know about you, but I am thankful for the freedom that I have.    Thank you to all those who have fought, spilled blood, and died for this great country!!!!!    God Bless our military service men and women who are still in war torn areas of the globe today.    May you all come home safely, and soon.

Experiment gone good, you ask?    Well, Saturday evening I had a bit of "Hyde and Jekyll" going on in my laboratory, er, craft room.    I had no expectations of making something that was worth keeping, I was just experimenting.   I was just playing with some stuff and trying to make good use of all my crafting supplies that I have been blessed to have, but haven't made good use of them yet.    I bet some of y'all can relate.    Oh, shoot, I know you can!   hahaha

So, I took a shape that I had cut on my Cameo, a card front shape.    By the way, thanks, Penny Duncan, for all the wonderful shapes you have made.    I forget from time to time that I have access to many wonderful shapes that Penny has created over the years.     So, anyway, I took one of those shapes and a couple of stamps, Versamark, pewter embossing powder, LePlume markers, color mists, and liquid pearls and set out on my experiment. 

So, I started of with a solid white shape and stamped it with versamark and then used my pewter color embossing powder and heat gun.   What I learned is, next time, I will use silver embossing powder.    I do love the pewter, but it doesn't catch the light as well as silver would.

I stamped my parrot right in the middle.    The next time, I will see if I can put her on a branch instead of just hanging out in mid air.   hahaha

Then I had some flowers that went with the parrot and I just stamped them on the edge all around.   Next time, I will stamp more of the flower.

Then I used my LePlume markers and just filled in the flowers and the parrot with the island colors that are popular.    I love how the embossing gives a stained glass effect.

I had taken one of the markers and went along the cut edge to cover the stark white.    I took out my color misters with a bit of shimmer to them and misted with all four colors, Purple, Green, Yellow and Red.    I really love the effect that it gave to the card topper.

The next to the last thing I done was buffed the whole front of the card with my finger and it helped the pewter to shine a bit more than it was.   Then I put down a piece of pink Bazilla card stock on my card front and then attached the parrot to that.    The final thing I done was use my turquoise liquid pearls and put a few dots of that around.

When I started off, I had no intentions what so ever in using this as a real card front.    It was totally an experiment!      But.....when I got thru with everything and looked at it, I thought, "this just might work!"    And I think it did.    I was really pleased with my "Experiment Gone Good".    Hope y'all are too.     Hey, there is no such thing a a bad experiment in the craft room/laboratory.    Most is very usable.

As I leave you this morning, I leave you with this scripture:

Philippians 4:11  "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content."

Paul was writing to his Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi and he had been thanking them for helping him.    But Paul had some very valuable lessons that he passed on to this congregation and he is still passing this on to congregations today.    He had learned to make do with he had.    Whether a little or a lot, what ever the situation, he had learned to be content.

Have we learned to be content?     Some people think contentment is a bad thing.   For me, I think contentment is one of the best things that can happen in  a persons life circumstances.   Some times, contentment can refer to the financial side of life.    If you happen to know how to stretch a little food to make a lot of food, you can have more contentment.    If you happen to know how to repair a rip in a piece of clothing or sew a button back on, there is more contentment.    If you can do home repairs yourself, there is more contentment.     If on the other side of that, you are always trying to keep up with your neighbors and all that they do, you may never experience contentment.

Are we content in our relationship with the Lord?    One of the things that I have always tried to apply to my life is this; "I do as I know to do, when I learn to do better, I do better."    I want the Lord to be my teacher.   I want the Lord to teach me to do better.    I do not want, ever, to be chasing after the next great idea or to be chasing after something that God isn't telling me to go for.   Some say, do you want to be satisfied with mediocre?    I say, if God has me at mediocre, then I know He knows what He's doing.   I know He is at work in me getting me ready for better than mediocre.    But, I don't want anything that He hasn't already planned for me.    I really feel that sometimes in our search, we are searching after stuff that He hasn't commissioned us to search for, therefore we have even more discontentment in our lives.

Sometimes we need to stop and take a breath and look at our circumstances and ask God what He has in store for us, but until He takes us to the next level, we really should ask Him to help us be content with where we are.    Whether we have a little or a lot, be content and keep on doing the work that God has before you and praise Him through it.   I am not saying we should ever stop trying to achieve what God has put before us.    My life won't look like yours and yours won't look like mine.    But discontentment will make both our lives look miserable thru the eyes of the onlooker.    God will bless us right where we are, in every situation, if we ask Him to do so.

Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Those don't sound like words from a discontented Paul.    Whether he had meals fit for a king or bread and water, whether he was behind bars or a free man, he was content.    His contentment came from Christ!    Yours can too.    I pray that if you don't have that contentment in your life that you will ask God for it.    Contentment will only come during the hardships of life.    Contentment comes through the struggle.    When we have come to the end of who we are, and realize we can't do it on our own, Christ is ready to strengthen you.    When Christ is your strength, when Christ is your everything, then Christ is all you need.    With Christ comes contentment.

I hope and pray you have a contented day today!    I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen and read here.   If so, I would love to read your comments.

Ladybug, I hope you have a wonderful day today.    Sweetpea loves you and will be with you in a couple of days.   See ya soon.

Have a blessed day!   God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty

Welcome July and Two New Cards

Greetings one and all y'all!!!    God Bless every one of y'all as we go into the month of July and as we celebrate "Independence Day".    What does that day mean to you personally?     I hope, where ever you are, and what ever country you happen to live in, that those words, alone, mean something to you.    Here in the great country of the United States of America, those two words mean an awful lot.    There was much blood shed and loss of life to gain our independence from another great country.    We should never forget that our freedom was purchased at a GREAT price!!!!     I pray that as we go into this holiday weekend, that each and every one of us will take the time to pause and thank God for the blessings that He has bestowed upon this great country!

I made a couple of cards recently for some friends that have been recovering from surgery.    I hope the cards will be an encouragement and uplifting for both of them.   

This is a new stamp set that I ordered.     It is Hello Daisy from JustRite Papercraft that I ordered through Blitsy.

I love the boldness of the flower.   As usual, here lately, I'm trying to use my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers.

The flower itself, doesn't require much coloring, if you choose to go that route.   After I got the image colored, I used my Studio brand glitter glue, or faux stickles, as I call it.    After all, I just gotta add a little bling.   hahaha

I used my standby Spellbinders die and Cuttlebug to cut and then I inked the edge so it would stand out on the card front.   I also inked the card front ever so slightly with a purple, yeah, my fav color.

I was really happy with this image and I'm sure it will become a favorite of mine.

This is the second card I made using the same stamp.   I used the Sizzix Postage Stamp Die to cut this image.    When I got it cut, I used my Martha Stewart Score Board to make the straight lines just inside the scallops indented a little more than they were.   I am trying to find something else that I like as well as I like the Spellbinders Die, just so they all won't look the same.   Anyway...

I oriented the stamp differently on the front of this card.    I inked the edges and also the raised straight lines inside the scalloped edge.    Then I took some of my liquid pearls and went around the scalloped edge.    I really loved that, it makes it look like lace when you are holding it.

In the center of this flower, after I used my faux stickles all over the flower,I used my glossy accents and covered the center of the flower.  I loved that also.

This is just a close up of the swirly effect of the liquid pearls.  

I really liked this card and I know I will use the stamp more and more.   When I was finished with both cards, I went around the images with a pale blue for this one and a pale gray for the other one.   I love to do that to give a bit of dimension to the stamped image.    Any way, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my latest two cards.

As I leave y'all today,  I would love to share another scripture with you.

Isaiah 41:13 says, "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the One who helps you."

Have you ever thought about holding hands with God?    Maybe you don't, but He does.     God wants to hold our hand with His "right" hand.    There is all power, all strength, all favor, all glory in the Father's right hand.    God is the One who helps you!    God is the One who says to you, "Fear not!"

Recently a sister in Christ asked me where God was at in my early life.    All I could say at the time was, "I don't know".     She asked me if I would like to know.     I said, "I really don't know if I want to know."     On the way home from our visit, I asked God where He was.    This is the response I got that evening while in the kitchen, cleaning up a bit, and in the blink of an eye, the answer was,  ""God spoke to me thru the Holy Spirit and said, "When your hands were clenched, as if making a fist, you weren't;  I was with you, holding your hands!!!""

Picture, if you will, someones hands in a closed manner.    Anyone seeing those hands would assume they had made fists, and getting ready to fight.    Ok, now picture those same hands holding hands with God.    There's no fight in those hands at all.    Just the hands of God holding my hands.    To think that God loves me enough to hold my hands is more than my feeble mind can comprehend.    Thank you God, for loving me and being my El Rohi, "the God of Strength who sees me".

God has held my hands my whole life and I praise Him for that!    I'll bet that God has held your hands too.    There's only two people that I want to hold hands with and that is my husband and God.    Just knowing that God has held my hands in the past, it does not matter what the future brings, because I know He'll hold my hands through it.

I hope and pray that you have a right relationship with Father God, through the blood of Jesus Christ.   If not, then maybe this is the time or the weekend  for you to have an "Independence Day" from sin.   Knowing that your "freedom" from sin was bought and paid for with the blood of Christ.   Christ died for one and all, only once.    One death was sufficient saving grace for me, and everyone before me, and everyone after me.   One death paid the penalty for "all" sin.    But, you don't automatically have the ransom just because you belong to the human race.    You have to acknowledge the sin in your life, repent, and ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life.    He will!    He wants to hold your hand!     Jesus wants to be your, "Fear Not"!    Let Him, you won't be disappointed.    Happy Independence Day!!!!

Ladybug, I hope you are staying cool!    Praying for the days ahead!    I love you bunches and look forward to time with you soon.   Sweetpea loves you!

Where ever you are, what ever country you live in, I pray for all to have a happy and blessed weekend ahead.    God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty