WOW, Don't pass out anyone, but I'm back.....

Oh how good it feels to finally be back at it again.    I have sooooo missed writing and putting my arts and crafts up to show y'all.    It feels right to be here and I just hope and pray that it can continue for a while.   When I'm not here, I miss y'all so much.    Anyway, I have a project I want to share today.   I have been waxing nostalgic and I want to share a fun memory with y'all  and also a Word of Scripture.   Don't quite know in what order, so here goes.

Many years ago, probably 41 or 42 years ago, my youngest brother and I was shucking corn.   Although he is my youngest brother, he is still a couple of years older than me.   So, I was in my early to mid teens and he was closer to mid to late teens.   Anyway, a farmer that all my brothers done a lot of farm work for had gifted us with two huge grass sacks full of corn.    That was a huge blessing for us.    That particular day, my brother, myself, and our mom was the only ones at home.     Brother and I went to the picnic table out back and I got a big dish pan from inside and we just started shucking corn.      The picnic table was sitting in the spot at the back of the house where the coal pile was when I was very young.    You could look on the ground and still see little tiny pieces of coal that was embedded in the ground and the grass didn't grow very well in that spot and it made it the prefect place for a picnic table.

It wasn't the most fun or glamorous job at all, but we decided we would make the best of it and get it knocked out.    When we got a pan full of corn, I would run it up to the house and swap out a pan with mom and we done that for what seemed like hours.    We thought we had it bad, but mom was the one that really had it bad, processing all that corn for the freezer, but she never complained and was always happy to put food in the freezer for her family.    She could hear my brother and I as we talked and laughed and just shucked corn.

We decided we would make it fun.    Everything always boils down to who can do something faster, doesn't it.    In other words, a race.    Kinda like drag racing.   hahaha, yeah right.     Anyway, when we got an ear shucked, we would pick a kernel of corn off and squirt it at the other one.   We both had corn innards on our face, in our hair and all over our clothes.    We was covered up with corn guts.    So, after that went on for a while with us laughing and shucking corn and mom telling us to behave every once in a while, as we got closer to being done with shucking the corn, I decided that this time that I was gonna dodge his corn kernel.    In all my laughing, I wasn't paying much attention to where I was setting at on the picnic table.   I started out in the middle on one side and brother was in the middle on the other side with the pan between us.   I had moved and squirmed around so much that I wasn't sitting in the middle anymore.     I hadn't realized that though.

Sooooo, he shucked an ear of corn and was hurriedly picking a kernel off to shoot it at me and just about that time, I leaned backward, thinking there was some picnic table behind me to catch me, but nooooo, there wasn't!    I done a fancy gymnastic flip off that picnic table but....fortunately, the ground caught me!!!!!    My right wrist warped the edge of the picnic table on the way down.    The right side of my face buried up in the coal grit on the ground as well as both knees and I was a fright to behold, but....I managed to dodge the corn kernel that my brother squirted at me!!!!    hahaha

The side of my face all skinned up from the coal and both knees a bloody mess and a swelled up wrist.   This was just a few short weeks before school started back in the fall and my wrist was sore up until about Thanksgiving of that year.   I didn't want go to the Dr with it.    It was black and blue for a while and I couldn't pick up a drinking glass with that hand for a long time.    One of my jobs at home was to  help with the dishes before and after a meal and I couldn't even pick up a dish to hold it and dry it.  When school started back, I got excused from PE class until my wrist got better.    It was hard to pack school books and even hold pencil to write.   But, it did get better.

And this is a good and fun memory from way back when.    A time when mom told us to do something and we did it, without any sassing or back talk.    A time when the kids was always out back playing with something or building something.    A time when mom would go to the back door and yell "dinner" and her kids would come running from every direction and be ready for a good, hot meal.   These are some good, precious memories.    Sure hope y'all enjoyed this and I hope that you remembered this brother!     I love you and all the rest of my brothers; bruises, knots, scrapes, bumps and all!!!!!    I wouldn't have wanted anyone else as my brothers, because I had the best and still consider each of you "The Best"!!!!!

I have done a bit of crafting over the past few months that I haven't been around much.    My foot is finally better, Praise God!!!!!    I got the boot off one month ago yesterday.    I was very leery at first, if I could even walk without the boot.    But I managed to take it slow and my foot got stronger every day.    It actually started swelling, a LOT!    That was scary, not knowing if it was normal or not, so back to the Dr I went with what looked like a watermelon around the bottom of my leg and foot.    It was normal.    Praises for that!    I got some of those new Zip Sox compression socks.   Let me tell you, those are the bees knees!!!!    I wore them for less than a week, and the is swelling gone!!!!   Woohoo!!!    Yay!!!!!   Par-tay!!!!    I just have to say that God is sooooo good!!!!!    Now, as of right now, I still can't run, or jump on that foot, (wouldn't be doing that even if I didn't have an issue with my foot, hehehe) or go up on tip toes to look in a tall cabinet and I have to be careful about the shoes I wear, but......I am doing what I want and need to do.    I am getting out of the house, easily.    I walked to the mail box yesterday, on the gravel driveway; the first time in over 6 months and I can tell you, I don't need to do that just yet.    Stepping on the gravel makes my foot unsteady and puts stress on my ankle.   But, I am so happy that I can do what I need to do!!!!!

While managing my foot, I did do some crafting.    That always makes me feel better about life in general.    It gets me closer to God in a very real way.    I know there are many of you out there that know exactly what I'm talking about.    So, I did take a few pics.

How many of y'all know that I love purple?    Well, I make no apologies for that, I just love purple!!!!!     Lydia, in the Bible, was a seller of purple fabric.   Purple was an expensive color.    It was also considered a sign of royalty.    Since I am a daughter of the Most High God, and joint heir with Jesus Christ, that makes me royalty, thus my adoration of all things purple.    I told you all that to show you this first pic.

Hahahaha......it's purple!!!!!!      Oh my goodness, isn't that the coolest cast you ever seen!!!!!    I loved it!!!    Not the cast, but the color!!!!     I rocked it too, I'm telling ya!!!!      Hahahaha!!!     Yes, God is good!!!!!

Ok, so I was in a tag swap with a group of ladies earlier this year and this is the tag that I made for the month of July.    I think it is my favorite of all the tags I have ever made.     I REALLY enjoyed making this one.     Click on each pic and it should make them larger to see the detail better.  

This is a huge tag and I made the envelope to put it in.    You can't tell from this pic, but it is double.     The images on this tag came from everyone's fav place, Pinterest.   I printed them, cut them out, inked the edges and then roughed the edges up to make them look old.    There is lots of different sprays and beads and baubles and all kinds of stuff on this tag.

This is a paper clip I made.    The first one I ever made, as a matter of fact.   So, I was thrilled to put it on this tag to keep it together.    I put a bit of ribbon and a bauble that looks like the White House on it.

I used the paper clip to hold the big tag together.   It worked perfectly.   Now, to make more.

This is the inside.    It has a little bit of everything, including the kitchen sink on it.   More of the images that I distressed.    There is mica flakes, beads, art sugar, liquid pearls, embossing paste, shimmer sprays.......

I love this clear blue stone over the words in the song that emphasizes God!!!   I wanted to draw attention to God.   Everything we do should point to God, so that is one of the ways that this piece points to God.

and I forgot to mention glitter!    Ahhhh, glitter.....enough said.    hahahaha

I loved the mica flakes!!!!   The song looks just like it was torn from the old songbook with the ragged  and stained edges.

You can see how large this tag and envelope is.   It was big and I loved it!!!!    The very last thing I done, and I didn't get a pic of that, was to put the tag in the envelope and tie it with ribbon and then use some of my sprays on the outside of the envelope.   That just tied everything together and made it look finished.

I had a ball with this tag and one of the reasons that I did, is because of who I was making it for.   +Sylvia Tabor is who got this tag and she was thrilled with it and that made it all the more sweet for me.

I made several more tags and will post pics of them soon and more of the fun stuff I have done.

I have such a long post with so many pics and stuff I wanted to share that I will wait about sharing my devotion on God's Grace.     Just be thinking about Grace.    What it is.    How one goes about finding Grace.    And, is Grace enough?     Think about those things and I will share with you what God has revealed to me about His Grace.

It has been so good to sit down and chat with y'all today and share some of the fun stuff that's gone on!!!!    I wish I could have a cup of coffee with each of y'all and just share.    Come to think of it, I just did.   Actually, a cup and a half.   Now, if y'all will sip on a cup of coffee while looking over this post, then we will have had a "cuppa" together.     God bless each and every one of y'all as you go thru this day.   I don't know where y'all are, but here in beautiful Tennessee, it is a lovely day, and I hope it's just as lovely where ever you all are.

Ladybug, Sweetpea loves you soooo very much and can't wait till the next time we are together.   God bless you!!!

If you enjoyed what you seen and read today, tell someone about it.   Let them know that there is a place to come to and feel like you're home.   I also would love to hear from you.

Well, the only thing left to say is this:   God loves y'all and so do I!!!!   hugs, Patty