An ATC and Where are the Voices??

Hello everyone!!!!     I hope and pray that today is a most pleasurable day for all of y'all!!!     In my neck of the woods, it's starting to feel like fall is just around the corner and it is.     I remember some of the fun times of driving around the country sides looking at the changing of the season and just enjoying all the many colors that comes with the beauty of fall.    It is short lived, so when we see those colors, enjoy them in the moment.     For me spring is the time we are looking for the new birth of all the plants just coming back to life after hibernating.     Fall is the signaling for most of all the plants to get ready for hibernation once again.     We see the farmers working like worker bees getting their crops out of the fields and getting that last field of hay cut and bailed, ready for the livestock in the winter.     People are putting up the last bit of their gardens and harvests from their orchards and getting their freezers and cupboards ready for the coming dormant season.     It is a most enjoyable time of the year.     Going to the farmers markets and looking at all the winter squashes and shocks of corn and all the fall produce.    I just love it!!!!!   I am really hoping that hubby and I get to take our drive over to a city park some two or three counties away and walk their greenway in search of acorns.     I have become an acorn snob over the years.   hahahaha      Well, not a snob at all, I just love acorns!     My hubby knows if he wants to make me happy, just mention going acorn hunting and I am all smiles!!!     I told him one time that he was kinda lucky.    He said what do you mean.    I said a lot wives like diamonds, I like acorns!!!!!    hehehehe    He said, welllllll, I guess I am lucky!    hahaha

I recently worked on a small project and wanted to share it with y'all.    It is an ATC.    That is an Artist Trading Card that is 2.5" x 3.5" for those that don't know what an atc is.    It is just a very small piece of art that expresses you while you are creating it.     They are made to share with others so they can get a feel for your creative side.     Most of the time we, or I will use the colors that best expresses who I am.     I love purple, gold, copper, glitter.........if it's flashy, I probably love it.     I try not to go to far with it, but hey, "I yam what I yam"!    hahahaha    (from my Popeye watching days. hehehe)

So, this is the atc I made.   I hope you enjoy it.

I always like to take a pic with something in it to give an idea of the size, but I forgot to this time.     Just remember it is 2.5 x 3.5 inches.   Very small.

Purple and copper, woohoo!!!!   I edged it with sand and gold glitter structure paste.    That has become one of my new fav products, by viva.    I love the sentiment, although it is not scripture, it still represents my point of view and has strong scripture tendencies.

The feather always represents how scripture tells us that we are sheltered in God's love just like a momma bird covers her chicks with her feathers.     There is a tiny purple gem on the feather representing that we are precious to God.      There is also a tiny gold thread tied around the feather representing again, how precious we are to God.    In the corner is a purple/black shell chip.    That is another of my new fav embellishments.     I plopped it in a pool of thin glue and sprinkled fine purple glitter on it and let it dry and then tapped off any excess.

I cut an easel by hand to set it on.    I then took a purple marker and went all around the edge of the atc and that finished it off.     This was a very fun small project!!!     I was very pleased with the finished atc.     I sure hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Where are the Voices?

There is some disturbing things happening on the internet these days.     I know a lot of people are saying it's a hoax or whatever.    Whatever it is, I'm gonna speak my peace about it.    I'm gonna forewarn you, it may not set well with you.     These are my opinions and I own then.     At the end of the day, when I lay my head on my pillow, my opinions are the only ones that matter to me, other than God's opinions.     I try not to ever do anything on my blog that would displease my Father, Yahweh!     With that said, if you are game, continue reading.

My question to myself.     Why are most of the people of the world so afraid of the One True God?      Why are they so afraid to the point that they try desperately to shut the mouths of Christians?     Why are they calling Christians bullies and fear mongers?     Are there any clear and concise answers?     I don't know if there are, but I am gonna put my uneducated opinion out here.     I have to deal with and hear others opinions all the time, so this is my time for my opinions.      My heart's desire is to not come off sounding angry, so I just hope that y'all read this prayerfully and hear the heart and intention and not what the enemy would have you hear.    I have been called naive.     I have been called a nut, a weirdo, a freako, scary and any number of other names that are not appropriate to put here on my blog.    You know what, at this point, I don't even care.      When a Christian tries to share Christ, they are being INTOLERANT!!!      But no one sees how INTOLERANT most people are towards Christians!!!      If I say that some action, thought or behavior is a sin, trust me, I am not making that judgement call!!!!     It is a judgement call that Yahweh has already made.      I am too timid and too shy to tell anyone that an action, thought or behavior is sin, but I do not have the right to call anything different than what Yahweh calls it!!!!    I still try to love as my Father wants me to love. It is hard at times to take it and the enemy knows it's not in my human nature to take, but I still try to hang in and do the right thing, the hard thing.     I try to remember that I am not the one being rejected, Yahweh is.     Why would anyone want to reject the love of a caring Father?     Why would anyone want to reject the wisdom that comes from a wise Father?    In my state of sin, I did!    But when I finally let the walls be torn down and started listening to the call He placed on my life, that's when I realized I didn't know anything, other than the fact that I didn't know anything.     "We don't know what we don't know."      Think about it.

Sin is missing the mark.    Any marksman, no matter what type of tool he is using, knows what it is to "miss the mark".      I have been pretty proficient with guns in my day, if I do say so myself.   (Not a real girly girl.  ggg)    And missing the mark is not what you want to do.     We can blame it on crooked sights, or bad tools, but for me, most of the time, when I missed the mark, or the target, it was due to me being at fault.   Bad aim!      Sin is missing the mark or the standard that Yahweh has set.     Sin is disregard or blatant disregard to the perimeters that Yahweh has set for our lives.     You or I will never hit the mark without His help.     Yeshua, Messiah (Jesus Christ) is that help.     Renaming sin with clever names does not diminish the fact that sin is sin.     We can fool each other, but we cannot fool Yahweh.  

At some point in time, my right to speak of my love for God and Jesus Christ on the internet WILL be taken away from me.     I know that without a doubt!    Until then, if "anyone" doesn't want to hear about how God is ready willing and able to change lives in a miraculous way, then I suggest to "anyone" just don't visit me any more.     I'm just saying that so everyone will know where I am coming from.     I want better for each and every one of us.     And I know I want much better for some than they want for themselves.   Again I say, "We don't know what we don't know".       How in the world can I be bullying someone when I am sharing about my God, the only One True Yahweh?     I love each and every visit I get from y'all and I love more than you will ever know, the support that you share with me in your comments.       I have also had to delete some and will continue to do so when nothing is to be gained.      I strive for this to be a positive place to visit.       I want you to come here and leave knowing that God loves you even if you don't feel it.     It boils down to what we know.        My relationship with God is based on what I know, not how I feel.     That is where our fear comes in, when we are living based on how we feel instead of what we know.      We are a generation, or several generations, of control freaks!     Right?    "You're not telling me anything; well I ain't gonna do it that way; what's it to you; don't get in my face"; and one of my favorites, "what e-v-e-r" and the list goes on and on and on of how rebellious we are.      Some people are so rebellious they don't even want to hear good news.      That's what God is all about, "Good News"!!!      "Yes, you live in a sinful world!!!!!     But, I, God, the I AM have provided you with the perfect scapegoat, my Beloved Son Jesus Christ, in whom I am well pleased!!", says God.      Faith and obedience is all it takes.     You know what, even the devil and his demons are more afraid of God than most people are today.     Even the devil knows there is a righteous God!     And the devil already knows what his end will be.      Saying that God does not exist, doesn't make Him go away.     Saying God doesn't exist does not relieve us of our responsibility.     We live our lives based on our decisions and we go into eternity based on those same decisions.    For those of us who do love and try to love others based on the way God loves us, it's hard to think about people we love not being with us in eternity.  

What if I didn't tell you that God loves you?      What if I didn't tell you that God has provided THE ONLY WAY for you to be in right relationship with Him?     What if I didn't share with you that I know what it's like to live in a state of rebellion?     What if I didn't share with you that I know what it's like to have been in the pits of hell?     What if I didn't share the hope that I have in me with you?   What if I didn't tell you?    What if I am the only person that ever has told you?     When I started this blog on August 13, 2013, I told God that the only way I would do it was if He was in it.    I love to craft but I love to share the things of God too.     I give God credit for any and all crafting I do and I give God credit for any and all writing about Him that I do.     I am in a state of grief over spilling my guts out here like this, but if I can't do it here, then I can't do it anywhere and I am bound and determined to do it for the cause of  my Messiah, Christ.     Does anyone actually think I want to get hate mail and hate filled comments posted here?     Well, I really don't.    I am a bit tender hearted, so if my Savior is not well received, then I must have done something wrong and that grieves me.

Psalm 14:1  The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God".  They are corrupt.  They have done abominable works.  There is none who does good.

Guess what, we are ALL infected with the disease of sin!!!    No one is devoid of sin.    We all have sinned.     Not a one of us is good in and of ourselves, not one.     It sounds like David is walking down the streets in any city on the face of the planet TODAY, and wrote these God inspired, God breathed words, doesn't it.      But no, this was some 3000-4000 years ago.      How could that be?     It is obvious that sin has always been an issue.     People have never wanted God butting in on their lives.   But we have people like David and some of the many other people in the Bible who have craved a relationship with God and in spite of doing the best they could do, they still had a sin problem.     We still have a sin problem today, but guess what, most of us don't care!    It is the choice that each individual has CHOSEN for themselves.    It hasn't changed and it never will until God wraps it up and puts an end to all the sin and rebellion.     And until He does, His Word assures me that there will be people crying in the wilderness, "Repent, Salvation is at hand!"     I hope and pray that God will use me as one of His voices.     I just pray that in the end, God is pleased with what I have tried to do with His help and inspiration here on my blog.  

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This IS the GOOD NEWS!!!    Who is afraid of that?      Faith and obedience is all it takes.     It's not rocket science, it's faith.     Something far greater than rocket science or any other kind of science.    Why else have so many scientists thru the ages been trying to disprove God?     I'm not a scientist, don't want to be one, and could not care less what most of them have to say.     But when scientists are trying to prove something with time calculations, there are some times in the Bible that have to be figured into their calculations if their calculations are to come out right.    (Now, this would probably be denied today, but my husband and I have seen several articles over the years on tv and read about this, more than once, so regardless of what one says today, I know what I have seen and read.)   In the Old Testament, God turned the hands of time back 10 steps and Joshua prayed for God to stop the time going forward till they had won a battle and in the New Testament, the day turned to dark for at least 3 hours when Christ was on the Cross and there is another account or two.     Those are some of the times that have to be calculated in before scientists can come up with the right time on calculations.     That's God!    Woohoo!!!   Yay Yah!!!     The Good News is this:   If you are reading this and wondering who "whosoever" is, it's you and me and anyone else who chooses to "believe, have faith" in Him.    You are whosoever!!!!!      That makes you important to God.     The next time someone asks you who you are, tell them, "My name is whosoever, I am that person that God mentioned by name in John 3:16".  

My desire, prayer and heart has not been to alienate anyone with what I have shared.    If I did, the best I can do is to say I'm sorry that anyone has taken offense at what I said.     I have to live with the fact that the enemy is searching for ways to silence me and others that want to share about their love for Yahweh, and if I have to be tolerant of all the filth, trash, hateful and hurtful garbage that I am bombarded with ALL the time from everyone, from all the pompous hollywood elitists, to terrorists, to pompous lying politicians, to just mean spirited hateful people hating on others for NO reason, then I should be allowed the freedom to speak about what I love.     I love God, Yahweh!     I love Messiah and Savior, Yeshua!   I love Holy Spirit, Ruach!     I love y'all!!!!     I love sharing my arts and crafts.     So, when I can blend it all together, and share it with y'all, it's as good as it gets for me!!   That's true!!!     I have NO desire to hurt anyone with anything I have said or will ever say.     I share what I feel God has lain on my heart.   And what He puts on my heart is ALWAYS for me!    That's all, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.    I'm not perfect, just loved by THE ONE and ONLY PERFECT "I AM", God, and wanted to stand up and tell y'all that, and if you love God, you can stand up and have a voice too.      We have the right to speak of our love for Yahweh and we have the right to support others who do.     Please speak up and please support those who do speak up.     It's not easy, but it's worth it.     Praise Yahweh!!!!

Well, there you have it.      I hope and pray that if you read down to this point. you will continue to visit me from time to time.      It's not easy but it is something that we will all have to decide at some point, we stand up or we shut up.      I'm not going to argue with anyone, but I have spoken up.     I have a great deal of respect for others that have and will speak up too.     Prayers of courage for my brothers and sisters in Yeshua, Christ that will stand up and speak up.  

I pray that God will bless the rest of your day and carry you on into night with a bountiful night of rest.    Prayers of healing for those of you that are dealing with sickness and uneasiness in life in general.     God knows our hearts and needs, we are in good hands.     Remember today, that God loves you and so do I!!!     Take care, till we meet again, hugs and love, Patty

Moving Forward, a Project and Another Milestone

Well, as I sit here tonight and type up this blog post, all the hub bub of the 2016 County Fair is all but history.    I am sure that in the buildings of the fair grounds, all that's left is just lingering echoes of all the laughter, fellowship and talking that took place the week of the fair.    It's kinda sad to see it all be wrapped up and done with for another year.     But, I am sure some are already actively working behind the scenes on the 2017 fair as I type this and as you read it.    Those of us that gathered there to take in all the entries gathered back there for everyone to come in and gather up their entries, ribbons and money for anything that won a ribbon.    As I walked out the Sunday afternoon it was over, I was kinda sad, but then again, happy to have it behind us and able to call it a wonderful success!!!!    I can honestly say that I enjoyed every second of it this year and just so fortunate to be a part of it.    So, we move forward.

One of the projects that I made for the recent County Fair that my last four blog posts have been about is a Mini Album.     I was quite pleased with the end results.    I went browsing in my list of blogs I visit and found the video for this.
 
http://mysistersscrapper.com/2016/08/quick-wallet-mini-album-tutorial      

I fell in love with it.     Her video is very easy to follow.    It just showed how to make it and I would loved to have seen the finished album that she made, but I couldn't find it.     So, I went on a journey thru my card stock and designer papers and found some that I liked.     What I loved about this was the fact that it just required straight cut pieces and a score board.    That's it.     Simple and clean, short and sweet, peaches and cream..........oh, sorry I got carried away for a second.   hehehe      But it is easy for sure.     After I got the album base made, that's when the fun stuff starts.   Yay!!!!!!

As you can see, it is the perfect size.    About 6 x 4 or so.    This is the finished outside.     I used some of my new most favorite embellishments.    I got them from MiriamJoy.com     They are flat colored shell pieces.    I think I have 4 or 5 different colors.    I just put out a smallish pool of glue and plop down a chip and then I take some really fine glitter, WOOHOO, yes, I said glitter......hehehe....and sprinkle it around the chips and let it all dry over night and tap off excess glitter and you have a pool of loveliness!!!!!    Oh yeah!!!!

See, this is a close up.    I just love , it makes me sooooo happy!!!!!     On the edge is also a new fav product called Structure Paste.     This has sand and glitter in it.   (glitter again...oohhhh yeah)     It is a really thick paste glue like stuff and I just dipped my finger in and started putting it on the edge.    Is this how it was designed to be used?      I don't know and I don't care!!!!!     I used it like this and loved it!

This is the top inside of the very top flap.    I put a pocket on it and then put a tag in it with an inspirational stamp.    I also put a butterfly on it.  

This is the bottom top flap and I put another pocket on it and then another tag with another inspirational stamp on it.

Ok, this is the Stampin' Up butterfly.    I had wanted that thing for soooooo long and then I had a good friend that I go to church with order it for me from her SU lady.   I love it.    I embossed it and then used some water colors on it.    I really love that stamp!!!!

This is the triple folded flip out on the right hand side of the album.    I covered the pages with designer paper and then I looked in my scrap box and I had all these colorful pieces that was all the perfect size!!!!    How awesome was that!    I took those pieces and stamped them with versa mark and heat embossed all of them with favorite backgrounds and then a favorite Scripture verse.    I really loved all the heat embossing.   Then I inked the edges with complimenting inks and adhered them to the pages.    I was really happy with the outcome.

 This is the left hand side of the accordion album page, done the same way as described above.

This is the back inside page after both sides are opened.     I kept in the theme of the overall project and just some of my favorite word stamps.     I kept it kind of muted, I just didn't want the words to be bold and dark.    This was perfect for my taste.

The next few pics are closeups of the accordion pages.    I really do enjoy how each heat embossed design turned out.

 This is a brick stamp.   Kinda cool, huh.

 This looks like an old fence and it turned out well.

 This one might be my favorite background of all 4 of them.

 I can't remember if this is bubbles or like stepping stone stamp.   I do like it though.

 This is another one of my favorite scripture stamps and it looks great in silver.

This is the inside with just the top flaps opened up.

On the front of this, I took my sepia/brown colored faber castell pitt pen and traced the image that was already on it.    Just darkening the image so it popped a little and I did that throughout the album. Anywhere the decorative paper showed, I darkened the images with the pitt pen.    I liked the look of that.

This is the album opened full out in all its beauty.    This was a very fun project and I was happy with the overall outcome.   I don't know if there is anything that I would do differently if I could change any thing.     That is usually not so with my projects.    I usually would like to undo something or add something, but this time. I am pleased as it is.     A first!!!!!    And by the way, it come in second place in the fair, so I was pretty happy about that!!!!

Here it is September 9th, 2016!!!   Wow, where did this year go?????   I just can't quite figure it out, but.........this year is rolling right along!!!!     It's rolling on so fast that September 6th was the 37th anniversary of mine and my husband!!!!!    Yes it was!!!!!     We are so thankful to God for this milestone.     I just hope and pray that we get to celebrate another 37 years together!!!!     God is good!!!     I don't know where the years have gone though.    When we first got married, we were young and active and on the go.     37 years later, for some reason, we're not as young as we once were.     I have heard people say, "Well, I still feel young on the inside, I just don't look it on the outside".     Now, I can certainly understand that!!!!    hahahaha     I used to think that everyone but me has changed.     Yeah, right!!!!     hahahaha      Don't think that no more!!!!!     But, I still do thank that God is good!!!!   Because He is!!!!!!  

Ephesians 5:31   For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

For what reason?       Paul is talking about marriage.     Marriage is the most sacred bond outside of the bonds of the family.     Go back and read the preceding verses to this verse.     It's not to be taken lightly.     And, yes I do believe in the wives submission to a godly husband.     A godly husband loves his wife as Christ loves the church.      A godly husband has his wife's best interest at heart.     Didn't Christ have our best interest at heart?     He did!!!!     A godly husband WILL have his wife's best interest at heart!    

The thing that I really wanted to bring out about this particular verse is this:    Only in God's economy does 1+1=1!!!!!      Put that down on a math test anywhere in the country and I guarantee you that the teacher will mark it as wrong.    But this is what God's economy says.    1+1=1!    One husband and one wife makes one unit.     I believe the Word of God.     I love the way God counts.     It still leaves people scratching their heads, but God's Word is forever.     Makes no difference whether we believe it or not, it is still true and will forever be true.     Thank you Father, for the covenant of marriage, and may my husband and I honor You as he and I honor our covenant marriage.  Amen!

Well, I hope and pray y'all seen something here tonight that you liked and if you did, share it with someone.     Tell them that the way God counts, 1+1=1, they might scratch their head too and you can tell them what it's about.     

As I leave you tonight, I hope and pray that each one of y'all has a blessed night of sweet rest and heavenly dreams.     Hope to see you back here real soon.     Always remember that God loves you enough to provide a way to have a relationship with Him thru Christ.     God loves you and so do I.    Hugs and Love, Patty