The End of June, Questions and Projects

So, here it is the end of June.     What??????      Where did June go????      I guess it slipped on by just like January thru May did.    I really can't say that I wasn't busy, because I was.     I worked on several different craft projects.     I have a few pics to share of some of the items I have worked on recently.     Got a few more projects in the works.     I love staying busy and having fun in my craft room.

Oh yeah, I've still got my Herman Munster boot.     Don't have any idea how long I'll be wearing that contraption, and don't really care, if it means no surgery.     So, I'll be kicking around with it for as long as necessary.     One thing I have learned.     It is harder walking up hill in my Herman boot, that it is walking down hill.      And, it's not necessarily the best thing to chase a spider in.    Because, if said spider decides to run in the toe of said boot, it's not easy to get said boot off really quickly.     (Don't ask!)     So, I don't like spiders.     Did I say I don't like spiders?      So, as long as I am sporting this highly fashionable boot, I will be calling on my "honey" to stomp any spiders I see.    hahahaha       Oh, he has come to my rescue many, many times over the last, soon to be 36 years.     He is my hero!!!!!

I always talk to y'all from the place that I am at when I make a blog post.     I just try to share with y'all in a very real way.     I try to share with y'all what God is showing me in my own life.     I also know that what ever I am dealing with, I believe others are dealing with the same issues. 

With that said:    Where do you belong?     To whom do you belong?     Do you try to fit in?     Those are difficult questions with equally difficult answers.    We spend most of our lives wanting to fit in somewhere; trying to be a part of something.      Maybe a special club or a group that we have been trying to be a part of.     I have never met a person in my life that hasn't wanted to be a part of something, belong to something or belong to someone.     I have met self proclaimed loners.     Even they have a desire to be a part of something.    Most organizations have hoops to jump through and secret handshakes and a list longer than a giraffes neck of all the pre-requisites.     The sad thing is this, even after we become a part of the Kingdom of God, we still try to fit in to all these groups, clubs or organizations.    Why  is that?     Why do we have such a need to find our place and fit in and be a part of something temporary?     Why are we not focused on the bigger picture and being focused on what we are a part of, through the blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ?     So what, (so stinkin' what), if I don't measure up in the eyes of some people!    My husband says, they are people that "have their nose out of joint".     You know the people.    You have seen those people, more than likely you have encountered those people.    You know exactly what I'm talking about.   The ones who have a permanently upturned nose, because they look as if they smell something bad.    The sad thing is, the harder they try to exclude us, the harder we sometimes try to break their barrier.     Why?    Why?    Why have I spent so much of my time trying to find validation in groups, organizations, or individuals that wouldn't spare a cup of water for me if my life depended on it?     Why have I tried so hard to find self worth in the worldly?     I have asked myself that over and over only to come up without an answer.  

The fact is this.   The day I accepted Christ as my Savior, that is the day I became a part of the Heavenly Kingdom of God!!!!!!     That is day that all the worldly stuff should have taken a back seat. I say should have, simply because it didn't.   I was still looking for belonging in the temporal.    I had not realized yet, that I was a part of something that no one could ever exclude me from.    Jesus is the One that opened the door for me.    Jesus is One that welcomed me into His kingdom.     Jesus is the One that made it possible, for a sinner such as I, to be a part of all that God had given to Him.    Jesus is the One that died on the cross for me, then arose from the grave and thus opened the door to His Father's Kingdom, to sinners such as I.

So, after a few years of still looking for groups and cliques and organizations, God finally showed me that my self worth came from Him and ONLY Him and not from this world.     My self value is based on what Jesus Christ thinks of me!  Not on what the world thinks of me and all the flaws and faults and short comings that they can see.     But on what Jesus Christ alone thinks of me.    There is not a group or an organization on the face of the planet that is equal to the Kingdom of Heaven!!!!  

Jesus Christ alone loves me enough to provide a way for me to have a relationship with Him!!!    Who does that?????    Has anyone ever provided a way for you to have a relationship with them, and no strings attached?     Have they????     I haven't walked in anyone's shoes other than my own, but I dare say, that no one has done for you what Christ has done for you.     Jesus loves me right where I am and He helps me to get past where I was and directs me to better.     The day Christ came into my life, I was in the pits of hell.     No other person would meet me right where I was and provide a way out.     He did!!!!    Jesus did!!!!    Jesus pulled me from the pits of hell and has been cleaning me up ever since.     That will soon be 38 years ago.     Have I reached a state of perfection?    Absolutely NOT!!!!!!    I can confess that I am not where I was 38 years ago; but I am not where I want to be either.    I struggle every day to do better, for the cause of Christ!     I struggle every day to do better, for the sake of Christ!     I still have sin in my life; I recognize that, and I seek God on a daily basis to help me make it through another day without being an embarrassment to my Lord and Savior.    I struggle with my temper; I struggle with the words from my mouth; I struggle with fear; I struggle with anger; I struggle my thoughts and I struggle with sooooo much more.     I am not proud to admit that, not at all.     I would love for people to look at me and think, "Wow, she really has it all together", but that's not the case.     I don't!     And I must tell you, that when my friends have actually told me that; I am very quick to tell them otherwise!!!     Oh no, not me, I don't have anything all together!!!!!!      God is so good!!!!!    Praise God, He is NOT done with me!!!!!

I said all of that to say this to you; that if at any point while you was reading what I have written, you said to yourself, "that reminds me of me"; I want to tell you that God is not done with you either!!!!    If you desire better, He will help you achieve better!      All the clubs, groups and organizations of this life will never give you what God can give you!     Eternity with Him!!!!!    God will never ask us to do something that will go against His standard for our lives.      He just won't!!!    God will always provide a way out of every situation that the enemy of this world throws at us.     Unfortunately for me, I haven't always chosen God's way out of some of the situations I have been in, even recently.     I have learned from some of my mistakes.     At the end of the day, I am still a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven!     At the end of the day, I still belong to God, through the love of Jesus Christ, in and for my life!     At the end of the day, Jesus made the way for me and NO ONE else!!!   And, at the end of the day, I don't have to try to fit in, Jesus made me acceptable when He said, "It is finished."  I fit in because of Him!    SO DO YOU!!!!!!!    If you are His, you already fit in!    If you are not His yet, it's not to late.   Just ask Him to make Himself real to you in your life and I promise you, HE WILL!!!!!    Confess to Him that you are a sinner and that you WANT to change and that He is the change you need.     Repent of your sins.   That means acknowledging your former ways and regretting what you have done or haven't done.    Then ask Him to fill your heart and soul with Himself and to lead, guide and direct you the rest of the days of your life.    Friends......it AIN'T easy!!!!!     It's not!     There are lots of people that will be wanting to see you fall and will be happy when you do.    There will probably be people in your former life that you may need to walk away from.  There was for me.    But, there will be more people that will be rooting you on.     There will be people that will be pulling you along, and there will be people that will be praying for you.

So..........I ask you these questions again.    Where do you belong?   (In the Kingdom of God!)     To whom do you belong?   (God!)     Do you try to fit in?    (You don't have to try to fit in in the Kingdom of God, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, You belong, you already fit in!)    I hope you have answers now that maybe you didn't have before you started reading this.    Just know that God loves you more than you can ever begin to imagine and your self esteem and freedom comes from Him alone!!!!

So, what about some of those projects?     Ok, lets do it!

Ok, so the first picture is of my dragonfly clips I made.   I cut two dragonflies and layered them and dotted them with glitter glue and then adhered them to the mini clothes pins.    They are so cute!!!!!    I just love them!

These are some post in note holders I made.   They turned out really nice and I liked them a lot.

This is what they look like open.   It is really easy to replace the post it note pad when it is used up.

This is an altered picture frame.    I went to a mystery craft event at the UT Extension Office and this was one of the crafts.   To paint the frame how ever we wanted too.     I got my frame really muddled looking at the event, but I done some more on it when I home and got it looking like I had wanted and then I put one of my stamped and die cut images in the frame and decorated it with some jewels.   I like how it turned out, a lot.

I had a bridal shower to go to at church and I made the bride a tag as a keepsake.   That is what I have started doing and they really love the keepsake.   This is the front of it.

This is the back of the keepsake tag.

This was just a stamped image that I water-colored.    It's not great, but I was kinda happy with it.   

This is a tag that I made for a friend.    I was sooooo happy with the way it turned out.     I just love when the final image looks like the initial image in my head.    This did, and I have to say it really is beautiful.

This is another tag that I made for another friend, and as with the other one, this one came out like I had hoped it would.     It looks just like the image in my mind and it too, is beautiful.

 This is an artist trading card of a half face.    I pencil drew it and then sprayed a fixative on it and then sprayed different colors of Lindsay's Stamp Gang on it and then stamped it with a wonderful sentiment.

This is my state flower artist trading card.      I stamped the image and then used my water color pencils to color it.    After coloring it, I just sprayed it with water and swirled it around and let it dry.    I then colored the flower with clear Wink of Stella, which gives it a wonderful shimmer and then I stamped the word Iris on it.    I really enjoyed doing this atc.

This final project was My favorite scripture artist trading card.    The paper itself was a gift from a friend at Christmas.    She had made the paper by doing the shaving cream with different spots of ink and dipping your paper on the colored shaving cream.    She sent me a stack of these beautiful papers and I knew it was for a special project, I just didn't know what the project would be.    I stamped one of my fave Bible verses and then added a feather trimmed with a gold thread and a ruby stone.     I also put a cross on it.   I think it turned out really great.

So, there you have it some of what has kept me busy for the last little bit.    I hope and pray that y'all enjoyed seeing some of my projects.    None of it is really fancy, but I had a fun with all of it and look forward to more fun in the near future, maybe tomorrow.    hahaha

Ladybug, Sweetpea loves you a lot and looks forward to visiting again!  

As I leave y'all this evening, I ask y'all these questions again:     Where do you belong?     To whom do you belong?     Do you try to fit in?      I hope you have clear answers to those questions and that you know that God desires for you to spend the rest of your life in His watch care and then enjoy eternity in His presence.     God loves you!!!    Have a great night and a wonderful, safe 4th of July weekend coming up this weekend.    For those of us that live in the United States of America, let's remember what that day actually means.    I pray, that we as a nation would put God first in everything we do.    In order to do that, we must give God first place in our individual, every day lives.    I have a friend that says, "make good choices".     I pray that we will make good choices in every aspect of our lives.

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