Merry Christmas!!!!!

Good morning y'all!!!!     I hope and pray that as each and every one of us anticipated this mornings arrival, that each and every one of us had on our minds the "Reason for the Season"!     I know I did.    With each and every passing Christmas, the "Reason for the Season" grows sweeter and sweeter!    Just to be reminded that the Savior of the world came in to this world in the same manner that you and I did is such an awesome and awe inspiring thing!

God knew we needed a Savior.    God knew we needed someone who could relate to us in every way.    Jesus came into this world as a helpless little baby.     He needed His diapers changed.    He needed to be fed.     He needed to be watched over.    He needed to be nurtured by His mother's love.    He needed to have a strong earthly father figure in His life.    He needed to be taught certain things by His earthly parents.    Jesus had to cut His baby teeth in the same we cut ours, through a lot of tears.    Jesus had the same scrapes and cuts and dings from playing and being a boy that most other little boys did, and a lot of little girls had those same scrapes and cuts and dings.    Jesus knew how badly it hurt to stump His toe on a rock.    Jesus knew what it felt like to play till He got thirsty and tired and kept right on playing for a while longer.

Jesus also knew what it felt like to not be a part of the "in" crowd.    After His ministry started, there was a lot of people that was looking for and planning and plotting ways to kill Him.    And He knew it.    All of those people were from the religious crowd too.    The religious crowd was so full of religion that there was NO way for them to believe that He was the fulfillment of all the teachings that they had been taught.    They just could not believe that He was the long awaited Messiah.    Yet, He had power to heal the sick, cause the blind to see, make the lame to walk, raise the dead and the power to forgive sin!     The religious people could do none of these things.    The religious people were too afraid to come near anyone that needed help of any kind, because they didn't want to become "unclean".     The religious folk expected every one to have smile on their face and act a certain way.

What about us, how close are we willing to come to someone who needs help?   Are we willing to come close enough to get dirty?     Do we expect people to look a certain way, to wear certain clothes, and to smile all the way through what ever it is that's killing them on the inside?   Are we willing to get close enough to smell the rot and stinch of sin?    Are we willing to get close enough to wrap our arms around them and say "Let me tell you about someone who can help you"?    Just how close to those who need a Savior are we willing to get?

Jesus came for ALL of humanity!     Let us make sure that everyone that is in our sphere of influence has the opportunity to hear and learn about how the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was born a babe, yet grew to be the long awaited Savior of the world.     He is still in the business of changing lives and forgiving sin and restoring the years the locusts have eaten.    He is still in the business of seeking and saving the lost.    He is still in the business of renewing and restoring broken lives.     He is still in the business of giving hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, and life to the walking dead.     Friends, if you have experienced that, you have something to be extremely happy about the birth of Lord and Savior!     If you haven't yet experienced that, let me just say, that it's not to late.    Today is the day Salvation.     He did what He did for those of us who need Him!      We ALL need Him!     I hope that if you decide you need Him, that you won't put it off.     Jesus has never turned anyone down that was looking for a relationship with Him!     You can count on Him.     Celebrate Christmas today with a new reason for celebrating.    Celebrate Christmas as being the day you stepped into new life and a new relationship with the Savior of the world!!!!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS'!!!!!!!

I have a couple of different projects to share with y'all today.    I hope you enjoy seeing both of them.   I have had a lot of fun working on both of them.

The above file came from the Silhouette on-line store.   It is a file by Lori Whitlock.   It is a five layer box card.    I LOVED making these cards.     I made several and everyone that got one really loved them.    This is truly a wonderful card and I will be making more of these.

The above pic and the following pics are of bookmarks I have made recently.    They have been a labor of love for me as I work thru some struggles I have had as of late.    When I can keep my hands busy with a worthwhile project and my mind busy with prayer while working on the project, it helps me to get clarity of mind and to be able to hear from the Lord at the same time.     So, each of these bookmarks and the ones that I did not take pics of have all been prayed over.

The ones above are of my sand dollar stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs and I do love that stamp and then the coordinating sentiments that go with it.    I stamp the design with VersaMark and then use my silver embossing powder and heat tool to emboss it.    I then fussy cut it and use my McGill hand embossing tool and work around the outer edge on the back side to get some cupping going on and then use dimensional adhesive to adhere it to the tag cut from card stock.    A little bit of sheer ribbon taped down under the sand dollar sets it off.

These were some of the tags just run thru embossing folders and then I inked the  embossing on the front of the card.    I really love those too.

Close up of the sand dollar.     I do enjoy these.

A close up of one of the sentiments.   I used a corner rounder on the corners of a scrap piece of cardstock and then used liquid pearls to make little rivets on each side of the sentiment.     

 This is the second pile of bookmarks I made.

The two here with the crosses on them are really "grungied" up and I love them.   I just took my ink pads and literally smeared  them around on the tag.   Then I used some of my spray and just spritzed them on the  tags.    I then glued the crosses in place and last but not least used my "goose bumps" spray on them and I love the looks of these two bookmarks and also the feel of them.   They feel like they have little goose bumps on them.   hehehe

Well, that's what I wanted to share with y'all today.   Just a little bit of what I have been up to here lately and I do have more to share later on and hopefully another video or two in the works.

Ladybug, I hope that you are soon much better and that we can celebrate Christmas with the family soon.   Until then, just know that you are loved and have been prayed for by many!    Sweetpea loves you bunches!

I do hope and pray that all of y'all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!   Thank y'all very much for stopping by here and spending time with me.    I am so thankful for each and every visit and I do love reading your comments.

Remember, God loves y'all and so do I, hugs, Patty