Happy Monday and New Card, "Ta-Da"

Happy Monday Y'all!!    I hope and pray that today is and has been a most spectacular day for all of y'all out there across this great globe.   Have you ever thought of just how large it is, the globe,  yet.....in almost real time, people all over the world will have the opportunity to read this blog post!    That just takes the cake as far as I'm concerned.    Wow, Wow, Wow!!!    God is Good!!!    Were it not for God, none of this would be possible!    I have friends all over the world!    To think that a little country girl, not known by many at all, could one day have a blog and reach people all over the world with the Love of God is very exciting and humbling. 

And, I must tell you that I do take this very seriously.    I promised God that I would serve Him right here, as long as He was a part of it and as long as He helped me with it.    And, He is a part of it and He has helped with it!!!!     So, I just thank God today for His watch care and love over me my whole life to bring me to this day, today, to be able to share another post with y'all about something I made and about how God has blessed me and helped me and loves me, in spite of me!    Yes, folks, in spite of us, God still loves us.    You see, it's not because of who we are at all.    It's all because of who He is!!!!!!     God does not love us based on us, flawed people.   God loves us based on who He is, Our Creator, the One who loved us enough to provide a way for us to have a relationship with Him.    And that is through Jesus Christ.    If anyone tells you there is another way to God, the Father, other than Jesus Christ, they are thief.    They have stolen from you.    They are trying to kill you, they are trying to destroy you.    They are serving the enemy of the Cross, and there is no good in them, regardless of the smile they have on their face.

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Do you have an abundant life?    No?     Do you want an abundant life?     It will happen only thru Jesus Christ!     What does abundant mean?     It probably won't mean lots of different houses, lots of different cars, lots of different stuff.   Although it very well could mean those  things.   The word abundant here, to me, means....an abundance of peace, an abundance of love, an abundance of joy, an abundance of understanding, an abundance of long suffering, an abundance of gentleness, an abundance of kindness, an abundance of faithfulness, an abundance of self-control, an abundance of hope.    You get the picture here.    These things can't be gotten anywhere except from God, thru Jesus Christ!    But, these are all meant to be shared with those around us who has need of them, just as we had need of them when someone shared with us.

1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

John is talking to the Christians as little children, because he loves them so much.  And he tells them why he is so proud of them.   Because they have overcome the liars, the thieves, the seducers, those who are in opposition to Christ!   They have overcome those who are in the world.   They have overcome those who serve the enemy of the Cross.    How did they do this?    Not in their own power, not in their own strength!    But in the power and strength of Jesus Christ who has defeated and overthrown the enemy of the cross!     The enemy knows he is defeated, he knows he has already lost, but he is trying to cause as much pain and heartache as possible.   I stand on the Word!!!!!    I stand on the words of  1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

Remember that Jesus Christ is your Victor!!!!!    If you don't know Him as Lord and Savior of your life, I pray that you will search Him out, He will make Himself known to anyone who is ready for truth!!!!    God loves you!!!!

So, I have been playing and made another card, similar to the one I made last time.    This cross is such a beautiful stamp!    I just love it.   I guess I love what it represents so much, that it makes it even more special to me.    But, while making the card, I took a few pics.   I like to call it, "from this, to that".     hahaha    You'll see in a minute why I call it that. 

Everything but the kitchen sink here!    hahaha   I just piled all the stuff I used to make this card up and I still managed to leave something out of the pic that I used and that was one of my little brown round ink spot that I use to ink the edges of the raised cross and I forgot the pop dots that I used to raise the cross.    Good grief............hehehe

See that gizmo in the lower rt hand corner.   That is a great tool.   Its called "The Perfect Airbrush".     And you know what, it really is!!!

See all those little colorful bursts of ink, I used the Perfect Airbrush to make them.    It is such a fun tool, I almost want to call it a toy, but it isn't.    It's fun, though.

Oh, do you see that little round container setting in the middle on the right hand side?    That is eyeshadow.    I took an artist brush and tapped in the eyeshadow and then brushed it over the cross layer and it gave it a really nice shimmery look, but it didn't show up well in the pics.    But that is how I got my "bling" on!!!    hahahaha    I also used a very small amount of glitter glue atop the cut out of the cross.   Bling two!

Ok, these are the card pieces and layers.

Ta-Da!!!!    I always wanted to do that!!!   Ta-Da!!!!!    Sorry, I couldn't help it, I got carried away with the excitement of using my catch phrase of the moment, Ta-Da!!!!     I must tell you, I really liked this card a lot, and I'm pretty sure I will be using it from time and time.   I put that little pop of green on as my stand out color and I really do enjoy it!     Oh well this is what I have been up to.....

Sure hope y'all have been having a great day too!!!    I hope y'all seen something here that you enjoyed.   If you did, share it with someone.   Tell someone you know that "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."   Tell someone that Jesus Christ is our "Overcomer"!!!   Nothing less than Christ!    Nothing more than Christ!   Nothing else than Christ!

Hi Ladybug!!!   Hope this finds you doing great and enjoying the somewhat cooler weather.    Sweetpea loves you and hopes to see you soon!

Have a wonderful evening and night!    Thanks for stopping by y'all!   God loves y'all and so do I.    Hugs y'all,  Patty

Some play time

Good Monday afternoon, Y'all!!!!     I do hope and pray that this is a great day for all of y'all.     It has been for me so far, and I am believing it will continue to be a great day.     I have a few errands to run in a bit.    Then a few more things that need to be done around the house today, and then I hope to have a few minutes of play time after while. 

Today has been such a beautiful day in my neck of the woods.    Especially after the somewhat dreary and cloudy weekend.    I don't remember any rain, maybe a sprizzle here and there, but just the threat of it almost all weekend.    When it's cloudy outside, I have a tendency to be a bit cloudy on the inside.    So, I love to be able to do fun stuff and keep the clouds away even if it is cloudy outside.    With that in mind, I played off and on Saturday with a new stamp and trying to get my vision to come together.    And I finally did.    The card itself, is not overly ornate with stuff, but....it really made me happy just to look at it.    I already have another idea in mind for it and can't wait to get around to seeing if I can fulfill that vision.

Before I share the pic, I would love to pick up with Psalm 23:4   "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Remember we are talking about David and the fact the he was a shepherd.    The terrain where David shepherded his sheep was rough and dangerous terrain.   One wrong step, and David could have fallen to his death.    His sheep could find themselves in perilous situations.  There was danger and pitfalls at every turn.   Earlier in this Psalm, we see God at work.    He is still at work even in the "valley of the shadow of death".    There will always be valleys that we will have to trod in life, but God can and will see us through them if we trust Him, and physical death is the end result of this life for each one of us, unless Christ returns before we die.    But with the great Shepherd looking out for us, even facing death should not be a source of fear for the true believer.

David says, "I will fear no evil".     David's confidence was in God!    So much so that he was not going to fear what ever he faced.    David had a history of God working on his behalf.    When you have a history with God, you know how He has worked in your life in the past.    We can draw strength from our past experiences relying on God and knowing that God's grace is sufficient for us in the present.      

"for Thou art with me", this is where David's confidence, joy and hope came from!    David knew no matter what came up, God WAS with him!!!    This is where our confidence comes from also!   A true believer can trust that God will be with him, no matter what he comes up against.   No matter how dark, gloomy and dismal, the Shepherd will be with you, if you are a true believer.

"thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."   The picture here is the shepherds crook.     One end has the crook that was used to rescue a sheep that had maybe gotten in  perilous situation.    It was used to hook the leg of a sheep to keep it from going astray.   The other end, the staff was also used by the shepherd to defend his sheep from wild animals.    So here we see discipline, correction and defense.    The Shepherd is always watching over His sheep!!!    Sometimes that calls for chastisement and correction and sometimes the Shepherd has to go into battle to protect His sheep.   The presence of God in our lives is a great source of comfort and strength.    The rod and staff for the Christian is the written Word of God used for correction, chastisement, comfort and strength.   Just as the shepherd goes before his sheep, so goes God before His children.   I hope and pray that you know the love of the Shepherd in your life, if you don't, it's not too late.    The Shepherd knows the cry of those who are in need of Him!    He heard my cry, when I was in desperation, and He will hear your cry too!!!!!

So......now I want to share my card with y'all!     Like I said earlier, it's nothing fancy, not a lot of layers or anything like that, but a lot of heart and love.   ggg

This is a new stamp from Paper Wishes called baroque cross.    It is just beautiful.    I can't wait to do more cards with this one.    I started with my plain white card base.     I used a fav purple ink pad and inked the outer edge of the card base front.    Then I used my my fav white card stock to stamp my image on and colored it with some Marvy LePlumb water base markers.    I used purple, blue, mustard and cherry colors to color the cross image.   After I got the cross colored I cut a mask of the cross and placed it over the cross and then I used three different inks on the outer edges of the cross.    I used a straw color, a lavender and a darker purple color.    

I really liked the blending of the three colors.   Once that was all dry, I got out my fav fake stickles (glitter glue) and put that on.    I don't know if I ever told y'all this, I do love bling!!!     I think a little bling does a heart good!     (Someone suggested I may need to go to "bling-ers anonymous!     I said I would go if they would anoint me with glitter!     hahahaha)

I got a little gizmo from Paper Wishes that you can stick a marker down in and squeeze the bulb and it will blow ink off the tip of the marker.    It is a really neat little thing.    The higher you have it from your project, the lighter the mist.    The closer to your project, the darker and more spotty it will make you project.   Most of what you are seeing is part of the stamp itself.   But, it really is fun to play with and I can't wait to play with it more.

I love the center of this cross.    I colored it cherry red, but it doesn't show up really well in the pic.    I wish the pic would have captured the sparkle.   One thing that I almost forgot is the deckle edge scissors I used to cut the card layer down with.    I really love the uneven edge of it.    It looks like a torn paper edge, but neater.    I inked the edge after I cut it with a brown ink spot.   Anyway, this is my card and I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

I started this post this morning and am just now getting it wrapped up.    So it is just about bedtime.    I do hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful night of refreshing rest.     I hope tomorrow is a day filled with peace, love and joy!    Every day is a gift from God, each with its own beauty.    I pray that our rest tonight will prepare us to enjoy the gift tomorrow.  

Ladybug, sweet pea loves you!   Hope to see you soon!

Goodnight y'all, God loves y'all, so do I!    hugs, Patty

September Painting

Hello Y'all!!!   I hope and pray that this post finds each of y'all doing well and loving life!!!   The weather here in my neck of the woods is kinda wonky.   ggg   One minute, it looks like it's gonna rain, the next minute the sun is shining and then the next minute, it's sprizzling.   Go figure.   Oh well, it's just weather and we need something to keep us on our toes.   It won't be long till the bad weather will roll in and then winter will be upon us.   I love fall and all the beautiful colors that comes with it.   Pumpkins, all the other winter squash, colorful falling leaves, corn shocks, end of mowing season, clear skies, cooler nights, first frost, end of gardening, harvest season, sorghum making.......what else tells us that fall is in the air?  

I had a weekend to spend with my Mom this past weekend and I must say although it was short, it was sweet!   I got to see three of my brothers while at Mom's, that's always a great thing.   One came Friday and was there when my husband and I arrived.    Mom and I went to church on Friday night.   A preacher comes to the Village and they have church services in the recreation room.   There was 16 at church and that was a great number.   On Saturday morning, my brother that was there on Friday came back and took us to breakfast then we went to the new local nursing home.   It has been opened a little over a year.   Going in the front entrance it looks like you are entering a beautiful resort.   It really is something.   We spent about 3 hours there visiting with people we have grown to love, we could have spent more time, but we needed to get back to Mom's.   Early that evening another brother came and visited with us for a while.  While he was there, another one came with his wife and we had a great visit.    On Sunday morning we went to my Mom's church.   It is always a great time to go there, I love them and they love me.    I got home early enough on Sunday to go back to my own church.    We are getting close to getting into our new church building.   On Sunday nights in September, we are meeting at the church and having walk thru prayer services.   We go where ever the Lord leads and pray.   It has been a really big blessing to do that.   Just to pray and ask God to give us His direction and guidance, it has been an awesome time.   After all, it's all about God, not us!    We will be in it shortly and that is so exciting!!!

This Monday, the 15th, was our oil painting class at the Senior Citizen Center.   I am so in love with oil painting, but I'm telling ya', I have a hard time venturing out on my own and trying something.   I just can't get the courage.   But....I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying these classes.   I really wish I could remember everything that she tells us so I could repeat it on my own.   I am just afraid to venture out on my own.    But, I did take pics of the steps we done yesterday.    I so loved this painting and I hope y'all do too!!!!

We started with a black canvas and then brushed on some oil that would let the paint that we use go on evenly and smoothly.   We only used four colors on this painting.   A liquid white, a thicker white, then a dark blue and and a brown.   We mixed the blue and brown and covered the canvas with that, brushing north to south and then east to west to make sure we got good coverage.  Then we used some of the thicker white and started making our clouds with the one inch brush.   Just making x's on the canvas.

Then we used a fan brush and laid in the liquid white just pushing the fan brush on the canvas till it bends and swirl it.

Here we done the same thing on the bottom layer of clouds and then we used the big brush to lightly blur the lines of the clouds to make it look misty, sorta.

Then we put in one small final cloud with the same technique used previously.

Here, we put in the line between the sky and the sea.   On the lefthand side of my canvas, it is really blurry between water and clouds and that is what I wanted.   We got some of the sea painted in and the we put in the diagram of the sea wave.  This is where I really started getting nervous about this.   I was NOT confident at all doing this painting.

Ok, we started putting in the roll over of the wave.   We tapped the fan brush in white, placed it on the right hand side of the wave, pressed till the bristles bent and pulled down.   Wiping the brush between each brush stroke.   We got to the top of the roll and stopped.

Then we used the same fan brush and went in to what is the eye of the wave and made a "C" shape and carried it all the way from the left hand side to the right hand side of the canvas.    We made the "C" shape to fill in the eye but we kept it just the width of the brush under the wave.

In this pic, we added the little splashes around the wave and up the side, making the spray that happens when a rolling wave comes in.

Here we added a little more of the splashes  and then we made the water on the beach, in the forefront bottom of the canvas.

This is my framed oil painting.   About half way thru, I thought my painting was not gonna be frame worthy, but....in the end, I am thrilled with it!    My husband is just so happy with what I have done.    I so love the look on his face when he see's my paintings.    He loves them and I am so happy that he does.    He totally supports me in what I do and is always encouraging me.

Before I leave you, I want to leave you with some scripture to think about.   I am going to pick up with Psalm 23:3  "He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

What do you think of when you think of the word "He restores my soul"?    God renews us, He refreshes us, reinvigorates us, recreates us, God quickens us, He makes us alive, God puts new life into us.   Have you ever needed to be refreshed, renewed, recreated?   I don't know about y'all, but I certainly have!!!!    Gods refreshing us is like a tall glass of ice water after being parched and dry.    Have you ever been so thirsty and then get a cold glass of water, you know what that feels like.   Transforming you from parched and dry, to refreshed and renewed.    That is exactly what Jesus Christ does for us!    He is the Everlasting Water!   He refreshes us and renews us.   He actually recreates us and makes us into new creatures.

"He leads me in paths of righteousness".  With the Lord being our shepherd, He directs our paths.    He makes our paths straight and safe.   He directs us in truth and holiness.   When we listen to the Lord, He will prevent us from wandering.   We can NOT walk in righteousness in and of ourselves!   God has to direct our paths to the paths of righteousness.   Do sheep really know where to go without a shepherd?    No, they don't.    Neither do we.

"for His names sake".     This says is all!    It's not about me, it's not about you!   It is all about the faithfulness of God, of His glory, and His goodness!   The Lord does not direct our paths just so we will be saved; but for He, Himself to be glorified.    God had promised that He would lead His people and in doing so, He is keeping His promises in our lives.    The Shepherd knows His sheep and the sheep know their Shepherd.    I pray that you know the Shepherd.    God loves us so much and He wants to be our Shepherd, but.....He will never force us to follow Him.    It is totally our choice, lets choose wisely!

Ladybug, sweetpea had a great time this past weekend and looks forward to visiting again.   Sweetpea loves you!

I hope and pray that y'all have seen something here that you liked, if you did, tell someone.    Share with someone what you seen here.    Tell someone you know that the Shepherd is good and faithful!    God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty

Fried Green Tomatoes, Y'all!!! and a Card

Well, hello y'all!!!   This looks as if it may be a dreary, rainy day today.    If it is y'all, try not to let it affect your crafting mood.    I find that the weather really does affect my mood.   But.....since I am aware of it, I DO have a little more control over it than I used to.   My philosophy now is this:   "So what if the sun isn't shining outside!    The SON is always shining inside!"   So, if you have a personal relationship with the SON, it doesn't make any difference what's happening on the outside, the SON is always shining onside!!!!   Who wants to give a little shout out of praise for that?    I just did, and I know many of y'all did too!  

As most of y'all know, I took a tumble on Sept 1st.   I am overjoyed to report to y'all that I am doing great.    I am just about healed up from all the facial dings and bangs.    My leg is coming along nicely.   My wrists are not as sore as they were.    My neck is a whole lot better.   All in all, I just thank God everyday that He heard my cry as I started to fall!    Believe me, I KNOW how very blessed I am at this very minute to have been able to recover so quickly from such a fall.

I still haven't gotten my fair winners photographed yet, and at this stage, I may not, I don't know.    But, I keep several things on hand to take photos of and share.    One of the things that I remembered to take pics of is some "fried green tomatoes"!!!    My hubby came in from work last week with a sack of tomatoes that a person he works with brought to him.    There was a couple of huge ripe tomatoes and then there was 5 green tomatoes.    I had tried to fry green tomatoes in the past with a mediocre result.   They have a tendency to get really greasy really quickly, and mine did.    Well, this time, I was bound and determined to have some spectacular "Fried Green Tomatoes", and I'm so happy to tell y'all that I did!!!!

If you are from the South or know very many Southerners, then you may know how we/they love fried green tomatoes.     There is nothing that you can describe it to.    With a lot of diff types meats, sometimes it's described as "tasting like chicken".    But, with fried green tomatoes, there's is nothing to you can say that it tastes like except fried green tomatoes.    Green tomatoes have a tartness to them and they are delicious.

There's not a recipe as far as giving measurements, but I'll tell y'all what I done.

First thing I do is plug in my deep fryer and set it to 400* and get it to heating.  If you are using a deep fryer, you want to get it going for about 15 to 20 minutes before actually dropping your battered tomatoes in it.  The hotter the deep fryer, the least amount of grease they will absorb.   Then I cut the top and bottom off the green tomatoes, so they'll be flat.    Then make 1/2 inch slices of the tomatoes.   I lay them out in an even layer on a cookie sheet and sprinkle a little salt and pepper on them.    Then sprinkle an ever so slight amount of sugar on each slice.   Maybe 10 to 15 grains of sugar, no more than that.   You don't want them to be sweet, the slight amount of sugar actually enhances the tartness of the tomatoes.   Turn the tomatoes over on the cookie sheet and repeat the process with salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar.    Sprinkling salt, pepper and sugar on both sides will bring out the natural juices and that is vital to the next step.

Next thing you want to do is get your dredging station set up.    One small tray with flour.   Another small try with an egg and about 1/4 cup of buttermilk whisked together really good.    The next tray has cornmeal and flour and then any seasonings you want to put in that.   I put salt, pepper, paprika, and maybe a bit of onion powder.   Whisk that together really well.

Take a tomato slice and lay it in the flour only, turning to flour both sides, tap off any extra flour.    Next, dip it in the egg buttermilk wash, let any excess drip off and then place it in the cornmeal flour mixture, turning over and getting good coverage on both sides.    Now, you have your assembly line going and start dropping in the deep fryer, so as not to splatter yourself with hot grease.  DO NOT over crowd deep fryer.    I dropped 3 slices at a time.    Watch them pretty closely.    You will have more than enough time to get the next three or four ready to go.    Turn the tomatoes in the fryer over so both sides are evenly browned.    Have a plate covered with paper towels to lay them on when you remove them from the fryer.    Once cooled a bit, make room for the next batch of tomatoes on the paper towel covered plate.

The first time I cooked them I had 12 slices of green tomatoes.    We actually had two meals out of them.    For lunch that day we both had 3 slices each.   I wrapped the others in foil and put in the fridge till the next day and figured while I was doing it that I would probably have to toss them in the trash the next day.     BUT.....I am so happy to report to you that they were very good the next day heated in my toaster oven on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.    It actually brought their crunch back.   Hubby said they may have even been better the next day than they were the day before.   I don't know, I DO know they we good both days, and that is because they did NOT soak up grease while cooking, and I did drain them really well on paper towels.

So, this fall when you have gotten all the ripe tomatoes you want off your vines, don't forget about the green tomatoes.    Make yourself some fried green tomatoes and share them with someone who has never eaten them.    They will be happy you did.

I must tell you, that if you don't have a deep fryer, use a skillet.    A lot of people are used to using a skillet to fry in.    I don't like using a skillet, because it is too easy to catch a skillet of grease on fire.    When I use my deep fryer, I know it won't get over 400* and it's not gonna catch on fire, under normal circumstances.

I did take a couple of pics.    A word of warning, don't drool on your computer.   I will not be responsible for any drool related repair issues to your computers.   Hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Now, you tell me, don't these look perfect?    I am telling you, I have eaten a LOT of fried green tomatoes in my day, but I haven't eaten any that was any better than these were, and my husband said he hasn't either!  

Ok, y'all wipe the drool off right now before it falls on you keyboard and messes your computer up.    I will not be responsible for any mishaps over drooling!     Hahahaha!!!     Isn't those just wonderful to look at!!     Oh gosh, I may have to make a quick run to HG Hill and get us some more green tomatoes.

So, I also wanted to share a card that I made for a church family who had a loved one to go home to be with the Lord recently.    I was really happy with finished result and I hope y'all like it too. 

I used my standard white card base.   I cut a shimmery gray base 1/4 inch smaller and inked the edges with my black ink spot.    I used my shimmery silver ribbon I got at the Dollar Tree to wrap around the bottom of the gray card front and taped it to the back and then I used scrappy tape to attach the gray piece to the card front.    Then I cut a 3x3 inch square of cardstock and used versa mark to stamp the anchor and the sentiment then used a platinum colored embossing powder and my heat gun and attached it to the upper portion of the gray section.   I used one of my white souffle pens and made white dots in the corners of the black and the the top right hand corner, I made the spots on the gray card front, just for fun.     I then took a small piece of ribbon and tied it around the piece that was already there and made a bow knot and trimmed my ends slanted.   

As I look at the card, I am reminded that we all are anchored to something.    If I may get a little personal, to whom or what are you anchored?    You may say, "It really doesn't matter."    But....I suggest to you that it does matter.    It really does matter to whom or what you anchor yourself.    There are many ports of call in this life in which to anchor yourself to.    Many of those are like the proverbial fence that some are setting on, not wanting to make a choice.    Not realizing that by setting on the fence, a choice has indeed been made.    You see, the enemy of the Cross owns the fence.     Most of the things that we can anchor ourselves to in this life is owned by the same one who owns the fence, the enemy.    If you are anchored to JESUS CHRIST, then your anchor will hold firm!!!!!!!     No other anchor in life will ever hold as firmly.    You may be tossed about a bit from time to time.     You may get worn!    You may get frazzled!     But I guarantee you that your Anchor WILL hold!!!!!!     There is no other safe place to be during the storms of life than to be anchored to JESUS CHRIST!!!!!     I hope that you are firmly anchored in Christ, knowing that when the rough days come, and they will, Christ will see you through it.     When all else fails in life, and all the other anchors have failed or sunk or left, Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.    I know that from personal experience!     I hope y'all know it from personal experience too!

Hey there Ladybug, hope you are doing well and can't wait to see you soon!   Till then, Sweetpea loves you bunches!

Have a blessed rest of the day and tell someone you know that "Jesus wants to be your anchor!"     Till we meet again right here, God loves y'all and so do I!    hugs, Patty    

Birthday card

Good evening Y'all!!!   I hope and pray that everyone is doing well and excited about being a part of God's great plan this wonderful night.   I certainly am, and I'm pretty sure y'all are too.

So, I have gotten my Fair entries back, but I haven't taken pics of everything yet, and I'll tell y'all why in a bit.  But since I didn't have pics of all my winners, I thought I would share a birthday card I made for a friend.  I was really happy with the way it turned out and I hope your are too.

This is a new set of stamps I got from Our Daily Bread.   I had fallen in love with the set because of the sand dollar.   I started with a plain white card base and I inked the edges with a platinum tear drop ink pad.  I cut the card layer and embossed it with a Spellbinders Embossibilities folder and lightly tapped my platinum tear drop ink pad over it to color the raised area.  Then I used a Spellbinders die and cut the top layer of the card.   I stamped the sand dollar with versa mark and then used a platinum color embossing powder and my heat tool and done the embossing.  I again inked the edges with the same platinum tear drop ink pad.

 I used a very sheer silver polyester ribbon that I got at the Dollar Tree.   You can't hardly see it in the pics, but it looked really nice in hand.

 I just love the sand dollar!   I loved how the heat embossing turned out.

I also used my Memento London Fog color to stamp the sentiment.

You can barely see the ribbon but I put east to west and north to south on the card.  It really looked good   I wish it would have showed up better.

For the inside, I stamped the Legend of the Sand Dollar on plain paper and cut it down to size.  I inked all edges of the insert with the same platinum ink pad.  I used a Martha Stewart Border punch on the left hand side and bottom of the insert.  I used my scor tape to tape it down.   I took a short piece of the ribbon and tied a small bow and placed it on the upper left hand side of the card insert.

For the inside where the sentiment is, I used a piece of the same plain paper and stamped my sentiment and then inked the edges of this.

 This is what it looks like on the inside.   I really liked this card, about as much as any card I've made lately.   I know the lady from my Sunday School Class that got this liked it also.

So, I told y'all earlier that I had not taken pics of my fair winners yet and that I would tell y'all why.   Well, Monday, Labor Day started off to be a wonderful and relaxing day for my hubby and me.   It was a lazy morning.   Around lunch time, we decided to run to O'Charley's for lunch.  It was delicious and relaxing.   Afterwards, hubby asked if I wanted to go out of town to a fav shopping  place, I said, sure.   We went to Tuesday Morning and all was well.   Then my hubby asked me if I wanted to go to Joann's, I started to say no, but, I said sure, since we are here.   He pulled up in front of the store and let me out curb side and he was gonna park and meet me inside.   Well, I got and he started down the aisle to park and I took two or three steps, and I reckon my shadow hid the sidewalk elevation and I stumped my foot on the curb, and yes, you guessed it, down I went.   The concrete sidewalk blocked my fall.    hahaha   My right knee got the worst end of the deal.   My face got the next worst end of the deal.   Concrete does NOT taste good.   My glasses buried up in my face and my nose looks really rough.  My chin is another mess.   My nose and upper lip are a pretty sight.  My right cheek got concrete burn.   I have about 6 open wounds on my face.   The inside of my upper lip is raw.   Both of my wrists are sore.   My neck is really sore.   Well, we spent the next 6 or 7 hours at a local hospital with me being x-rayed and having ct scans of my neck, face and head.   I have to tell you that "Praise God", NOTHING is broken!!!!!   I have been in a bit of pain, but I am praising God that He was with me on Monday.   The pic below, is what my leg looked like on the 3rd.  It looks worse today.   It is still swollen and I keep it wrapped with ace bandages. 

On the up side of this, the colors in my bruises are really pretty!   hahahaha   I told my husband that at least I make pretty bruises.   Purple is my favorite color and there is a lot of purple.   I'm really tempted to sprinkle on a little glitter and I could get my "bling" going on.   hahaha    Just wish I could mimic the colors on canvas.   hahaha   Oh well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.   God is good!!!!

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with this scripture:     Mark 9:23-24 "23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”  24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”"

These two verses come from a story in Mark about a man having a son who was demon possessed.   The father brought the son to Jesus and said in verse 22,  "If You can do anything, take mercy on us and help us!"

Jesus turned it back on the father and said to him, "If you can believe......"    That's what Jesus is still telling us today,  "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."   I love the honesty of the father in verse 24, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"     Do you ever have a time when you have to say, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"   More than likely you have experienced that feeling over a challenge in your life.   That's ok!!!!    When we cry out to God to help our unbelief, He will.   We don't mean to have unbelief in our lives.   In reality, we can't have belief or faith without help from God!!!!!   No matter how much belief; faith we have, we can't ever have enough to not need any more.   Every day brings its own set of issues that needs a daily renewal of faith or belief to overcome.    Faith is not stored up.   Faith is not something that we get one dose of and that's it.   Is there stuff in your life that is bigger than you?   Absolutely YES!!!!    Is there anything in your life too big for God?    Absolutely NOT!!!!!     Every day, we may have to say with whatever we come up against, "Lord, I believe you can deal with this, but help my unbelief!"  That is just being real with God and He loves when we are real with Him.   God can work in our lives in a very real way when we can say, "Yes, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!"

I don't know what y'all are going through, but I do know that there is nothing too big for God!!   God can!!!!!!    God can!!!!!!    God can!!!!!!

Ladybug, I hope you have a great night and hope to see you soon.  Sweet pea loves you!

Good night y'all!   I hope you seen something here tonight that you liked.  If you did, tell someone.   Tell someone you know that "God can!"   Till next time, God loves y'all and so do I.    hugs and much love, Patty

Creative Blog Hop

Happy Labor Day!!!!    I hope and pray that y'all are having a great day where ever y'all are.   I hope that you see something in your world today that inspires a boat load of creativity.   For me, I am doing something I have never done before.   I am participating in a Creative Blog Hop.   A new friend of mine, Sylvia, asked me to be a part of this Creative Blog Hop.   I was a bit nervous at first, but Sylvia assured me that I could do this.   I said Sylvia is a new friend. I met her in a Google+ group quite recently, and she has felt just like a great friend I have known my whole life. There is absolutely nothing better than friends pulling other friends along, or pushing them, or just plain carrying them, if necessary to help them be better in what ever it is that they do.   And this is what Sylvia has done for me and all the others in this great group.   They are just like people I have known my whole life. A little bit of encouragement goes a looooong way friends.   And Sylvia is a lady that will be a friend for life.   Check out Sylvia's blog when you get a chance and see what makes her happy at taboriginal.

Sylvia has been crafting for a long time and she can do anything.   I mean anything and she has an excitement about everything that is very contagious.  She does a video segment each week called "Keep It Simple Sylvia" on her YouTube Channel.    I love watching it.   I met Sylvia in the Kraafters Kommunity on Google+ and she quickly welcomed me into this group.   For that, I am grateful.   When Sylvia asked me to do this, she said for me to just be myself and answer a few questions.   I said, ok, I can do that.   So, here goes:

1. How do I create and where do I get my inspiration?

Well, I've never thought of myself as having a creative process.   I like to say that I am just "flying by the seat of my britches" most of the time.   Really!   Years ago, I used to sew.   My sewing process would take a couple of weeks for me to see end product.   I made most of my clothes.   So, I was always busy with something or two in progress.   Then I got into machine embroidery.   I loved that and still do, but difficulties with my hands and arms has had to put sewing and embroidery to the back burner.   So, I started getting more into paper crafting.   I am more into "instant gratification" now!   A sheet or two of paper or cardstock is a lot less expensive than fabric or ready made clothes I was embroidering.   So this is where my love for paper crafting has come into play.   I get a lot of my inspiration from other crafters online.   Also from nature.   I have lots of allergies that keep me inside, but I bring the outside inside to me, by a lot of what I make and a lot of the stamping and coloring with alcohol markers that I do.

I really think most of my inspiration for crafting comes from my Mother and both of my Grandmothers.   All three of these ladies were and are very craft minded people.   My Grandmother on my Mom's side was a great seamstress.   Back during that time you had to be and she was.   She passed the love of crafts down to my Mother, who in turn, passed it on down to me.   I learned to count with buttons.   I learned to sew with a needle and thread and thimble while my mother was sewing.   She would thread a needle and cut two pieces of scrap material and have me sew that while she was sewing.   She would check my stitches and patiently pick them out and have me sew them again.   She was so wise in keeping me occupied so she could do what she needed to do, all the while including me in all she was doing.   This was in the days before I started to school, so I loved all the time I had with my Mother, all by myself.

One of my earliest pieces of art came from the inspiration of my Great Aunt Verdie.   She was my Grandmother's sister on my Mom's side.   We visited her when I was real young and Aunt Verdie was also very crafty.   She had made a piece of art way back then, out of buttons and a plywood background in the shape of a key.   I went WILD over that thing!!!!   My Father cut me out a key and Mom let me have at her button box and I created my first piece of art.   I still have it to this day.   The date on the back of it says that I made it on November 7th, 1970.   Yep, that's right, 1970!   This November 7th, it will be 44 years old.  How could that be?   I'm still just a kid!!!  NOT!!!   hahaha

2. What am I working on?

As of the very moment, I am catching my breath.   I had been busily working on items for our county fair the last week of August.   I got everything entered on the 24th and then judged on the 25th and got several blue ribbons, a few red ribbons and a few white ribbons.   I am really happy that all the hard work paid off, so right now, I am resting and refueling.   I find that I do love making 3d items.   I do enjoy making cards for all occasions.   Recently, I have started on collecting a full range of alcohol markers and trying to learn to color and blend with them.   I am having a semi difficult time with them, but as time goes on, I am learning more about them.   So, I look forward to mastering that.   I see so many lovely colored cards and digital designs and I want to be able to do that too.   Practice, practice, practice is what I keep doing.   I know people are getting tired of seeing some of the same cards and stamps, but I am trying to learn.   So, I keep sharing my experiences.   I am sure I will ramp up for the holidays pretty soon.   I don't have any ideas, but, I don't need them right now.   I just rely on them to come when I do need them.

3. How does my work differ or describe my style?

I touched on that a bit back in question 1.   I have a tendency to go on the grunge side of style.   I really like that look.   But, my main style is "instant gratification".   I don't have the patience anymore to spend days and days, or even hours and hours working on something.   But, I must tell you that when I am in the creative process, that is when I am closest to my Creator!   Everything in me that craves creativity also craves a closer relationship with God, my Creator.   God created all that is, from nothing.   Everything I create, comes from something that God has already created.   We are not capable of creating something from nothing, but God is.   When I am working on something, if it's a card, or a 3d box, or whatever it is, I have an idea who the recipient will be, so as I work on it, I pray for the person who is going to get it.   I pray for God to bless my efforts.   I pray for God to help me correct mistakes.   I pray for God to help me have fun!

Speaking of praying for God to help me to just have fun, back in June, I took an oil painting class for the first time, y'all!!!   I LOVE IT!!!!   I went back again in August and I must say that, Yes I am hooked!!!   It is so stinkin' fun.   When I go to this class, on my drive there, I ask God to help me to just have "FUN"!!!   That is a request that He is more than happy to oblige and I do give Him all the praise and glory for it.   Look for the two oil paintings in my archives, one is under "A special day" in June and the other is "August Painting" in August.   The one I done in June won first place in Cultural Arts Fair at the end of June.   So, that just encouraged me to keep on.   My husband also loves them, another source of wonderful encouragement.

I can't say that anything I do is exciting.   Really, I can't.   But, I do always say that if there is anything good about me at all, it is Jesus Christ!   So, I hope that this helps you to know a bit more about me.   I love sharing crafts with others, thus was the birth of my blog, just over a year ago.   I have shared stories and memories from my past.   All of my stories are at least 95% true to "my" remembering.   Most are funny stuff.    I have a few devotionals.   Most of my blog posts either start or finish with something about God our Creator, or Jesus Christ, our Savior.   I hope that when people come to my blog that they will read about what God can do if we let Him.   That's as much of what my blog is about, as it is about me, or any crafts I may be doing at the time of one's visit.

I want to invite y'all to visit a friend of mine on the Kraafters Kommunity.   She is the next part of the Creative Blog Hop.   Her name is Maria.   Her part of the Creative Blog Hop will be up on her blog on Sept. 8th, so mark your calendars and get ready to learn more about her and see what she does.  She is an awesome artist!!!    She draws wonderfully and does fabulous mixed media art.   She has a blog and I would love for y'all to visit her blog and see for yourselves just what she does.   She is such a blessing and a very uplifting person with lots of encouragement.   She is a person that we all need in our lives.  So, check her out at Drawing & Painting with Maria.

I hope you enjoyed your visit here with me today and please do go and check out Sylvia's blog.   You will be happy you did. 

Thanks for visiting with me today.   I hope and pray that your visit here today has inspired you to remember the people in your life that came before you and shared their love of crafting from the heart with you.   Some of my favorite memories come from remembering those people.   We craft today because we want to.   Most of them back then, crafted out of necessity.   They had to use what was available to them.   They had to be creative with what they had.  It wasn't easy for them to go to the local craft store, there wasn't any.  So, I hope you can remember them with awe and inspiration, because they paved the way or us to do what we do today. 

Share what you seen here with a friend and tell them that God loves them.   Till next time, be blessed.   God loves y'all and so do I!   Hugs, Patty