Sympathy card

A friend asked me to make a sympathy card for her daughter-in-law whose mother passed away last week but I did not want to make a card that was too somber so I chose to use grey rather than black plus some soft blue specialty paper that I had.  The card base is ivory rather than white and I die cut a grey shape and put it behind the blue to make a small shadow effect on the shape for the front of the card.  I think it looks soft but not too somber.

The inside is using a Stampin' Up sympathy stamp set.  I stamped the branch with a mild green then added some small silver blossoms stickers and I think it looks rather elegant for the occasion.

A complete make-over

Isaiah 61:3 {He has sent me (v.1)] to comfort all who mourn, … to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

This chapter begins by giving the foundational truth that provides the power to do what this verse says God has sent His messenger to do.  It is the anointing of God by His Spirit that gives the ability to meet people’s needs in the midst of sadness and despair.  Only God can help a person deal with mourning because it is such an intensely person experience.  No matter what the personality of an individual may be or how that affects their feelings or experiences of mourning, what God provides for comfort will meet that person’s need.  A crown of beauty may look different on me than on you but in both cases it replaces the ashes.  The same will be true of the oil of gladness that covers the mourning like perfume.  I especially like the picture of despair being replaced by a garment of praise.  I think that is the ultimate proof of God’s ability to meet our needs.  He gives us a crown and a garment along with a good measure of perfume, all of which covers the sadness and mourning we may feel.  It is like getting a complete make-over!

Baby boy album

Another new baby and this time it is a boy, so this week I've been working on a little boy waterfall album similar to the one I did for a baby girl.  I used some fun boyish colors rather than the soft blues, greens and yellows you frequently see for baby boys and I like the way it turned out.  Here are some selected pages plus the cover (front and back):

On the first page on each side I plan to put pictures of the mother and father.  

The rest of the pages are for each month of the baby's first year.  Here are samples of the pages:

Not just a drop of water

Isaiah 44:2-3a This is what the Lord says – he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.  For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground.

God made me and knows more about me than I do myself!  He says not to be afraid.  These verses are God’s assurance to those He has chosen to be His children, to those who serve Him.  He will meet every need we have as we try to be faithful.  Even when things do not seem to be going well, when our efforts seem unsuccessful (dry) God says He will put water on them.  Not just a few drops of water, but enough to create streams of water.  Not just a sprinkle, but He will pour out the water!  That is why I do not need to be afraid.  God will turn what seems to be a dry spot or a dry spell into something richer.  He won’t keep me in the dry place forever because He made me and He does not want His creation to remain dry or afraid.  He loves His creation too much to do that.

The elephant and the flea

Isaiah 41:13 For I am the Lord you God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

This picture is another one of God's love, His father-like care of His children.  He will take hold of my hand and help me when enemies come around and try to harm me.  He will take care of those “bullies” for me!  In some similar scriptures God says He will hold me with His right hand (the symbol of strength) but for me it is significant that here it says He will hold my right hand.  In other words, my strength is strengthened by His taking hold.  I can face whatever problem comes along because God is adding His strength to mine and that can remove any fear I have of facing that problem because He is going to help me.  It reminds me of the story of the flea that walked across the bridge by riding on the elephant.  When they reached the other side of the bridge, the flea said to the elephant, “My, didn’t we shake that bridge?”  It is really all God, but He and I can do it “together.”

Just words

Isaiah 37:6 Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard…

I have always felt afraid of bad news, but then again, who does not fear that?  I remember well the day the doctor said to me “Your father is dying” even though it was over 20 years ago now, and more recently when the hospice nurse said, “Your mother has probably a few more hours.”  Both were fearful words to have to hear and yet, as the prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah in this verse, I actually was not afraid of those words when I heard them.  I knew that God was going to take care of them and of me and our family and that their “fate” was already a secure one.  So when my father took his last breath I felt a blanket of peace fall over me, and when my mother breathed her last some 20 years later that same comfort arrived in the room.  I did not have to be afraid because of any mere words.  God had all in control.  They are just words and words cannot do any harm.

The desert shall rejoice

As I meditated on my Bible reading this morning in Isaiah 35, I found the word pictures of what God promises in any restoration He does in one's life to be so powerful that I could not adequately speak of it or even picture it in my own words or art, but I think the picture says it all, so I am leaving it at that for today, with grateful heart to Him for His loving kindness to me in His provision of salvation and restoration.

My desert rejoices today.

Hearts and stripes and roses

I enjoy making cards, especially for family members, so with my sister-in-law's birthday coming up soon I wanted to find a way to make her card special.  One of my favorite things to do is to use foiled or holographic paper in some way but I am still learning how to judge the best use of them without written instructions or ideas from someone else.  But I AM learning, as I saw for myself when thinking about what to do for her birthday card.  I had some holographic pink card stock that has holographic hearts on it, so I used it as the background on her card.

Coupled with the pink striped paper it somehow works, much to my delight!

Walking not stumbling

Hosea 14:9b The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.

It seems almost ironic, in a sense, that the same way of living (walking in the ways of the Lord) affects the believer (the righteous) so differently from the unbeliever (the rebellious).  We see evidence of this almost daily in the responses people have to living according to God’s principles.  As a believer made righteous through Christ, I find following God a joy, a freedom-fulfilling, a peace-creating way of life.  Others find following that same road to be stressful, intimidating, and restrictive.  My faith in Christ and my commitment to live for Him and my love for Him is what separates me from the world.  My salvation and new life in Christ is what makes my response to God’s demands so different, and I would not be able to understand that difference aside from a mind that has been renewed by Christ.  I want to walk, not stumble along in what is left of my live.

Friendship album

My dear friend Sylvia and her husband have been good friends for many years now.  They have accompanied us on many fun trips through the years ... we've been all across the country, literally, several times with them and have loved every minute.  The first really long trip together was driving to Dallas, TX, and we all decided then that when we arrived back in South Carolina still good friends and still enjoying one another's company that was the sign that our friendship was here to stay!

We are not able to travel together much any more but our friendship remains not only intact, but as solid as a rock, you might say.  She is such a cherished friend that I decided this week to make a small album for her honoring our almost-30-year-old friendship.  It took me several days to complete but here it is:

 The base of the book is from a small cardboard box I had emptied a couple of weeks ago, so the album itself is 2 1/2 inches x 4 in. x 1 1/2 in.  I covered the spine with deep purple suede paper, which added some elegance to the cover, I think.  The book did not want to stay closed because of all the thick pages inside so I attached some purple ribbon to the front and back with heart-shaped brads.

On the inside of the front cover I put this dedication notation. 

I made two pages with small pockets holding special tags of friendship messages, and some of the pages were fold out such as you see below when the "Friends" side opens up:

Another fold open page with a pocket message:

All in all, I was pleased to be able to make this album totally "from scratch", i.e., with no instructions to follow.  I am slowing catching on to the basic principles and look forward to trying my hand at this mini album making again!

Press on

Hosea 6:3 Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on the acknowledge him.  As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.

Even if we do not see the benefit right away, if we put God in His rightful place in our lives, we will eventually find it was worth the effort of having done so.  The rain during the cold months does not cause the grass to grow right away, but the seeds in the soil need that water in order to germinate for the next season, when the warmer spring rain actually brings about the growth we can see.  There are times in our lives when we have to “hang on” in anticipation of blessing (growth) even if we cannot see it or experience it yet.  Something is happening, though, because God is preparing us for our next step of growth.  So we press on to acknowledge Him anyway, because “as surely as the sun rises,” that growth will come and we will reap the blessing of it, no matter how long or slow that process seems to be taking.

Wholehearted and prosperous

II Chronicles 31:21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.  And so he prospered.

This verse is talking about Hezekiah, who was one of the “good” kings of Israel, and I really like his description here.  It makes me wish I had known him because he seems like a man who was not only diligent and faithful in his service as a king, but he did so with diligence and faithfulness to God.  And that diligence and faithfulness in both the physical and spiritual areas paid off.  He prospered.  His prosperity did not mean however that everything went smoothly.  He still faced challenges, as seen in the events that occurred in the very next chapter when the enemies threatened war.  We know from that that prosperity does not necessarily mean smooth sailing.  I still want Hezekiah’s prosperity in my own life.  I’ll take whatever challenges God allows in my life if I can seek God, work wholeheartedly and be prosperous as Hezekiah was.

Perfect faithfulness

Isaiah 25:1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

One thing about God that deserves our praise and adoration is His faithfulness to us.  What I find exciting and thought-provoking in this verse is how God’s faithfulness is described: it is “perfect faithfulness.”  In that phrase I am reminded of the completeness of His faithfulness, and of its eternal qualities.  By completeness I think of how His faithfulness extends to every area of life; it is all-encompassing.  Because of its “eternality” it extends from before I was born to beyond my physical death.  God, in His perfect faithfulness to me, planned my life long ago, centered in His faithfulness, and that faithfulness has included “wonderful things” in the past, among those wonderful things being the blessing of parents who learned to love God and serve Him faithfully and passed that example on to me.  For the present I think immediately of the vibrancy and satisfaction not only of my personal relationship with God but also of the rich friendships I have in my current life.  Then for the future (although I do not know specifics on how it will be) even after I am gone I think this verse indicates that somehow my life will be a testament to God’s faithfulness for my grandchildren and maybe even to others who live beyond my years.

I gotta love those paint chips!

I'm on a roll these days, you might say!  I have been cleaning out dresser drawers and closets and included in my purging has been some card and scrap booking project ideas I've had set aside for that proverbial rainy day.   That rainy day came on Saturday, literally (with our 4+ inches of rain with thunderstorms) and figuratively with a stack of paint store samples I had set aside with the idea of using them as the foundation for some cards.  And now that I have tried three methodologies, I am ready to go find some other color samples and do some more! 

Although my photography skills leave something to be desired, I hope you can get the idea behind these.  If you look closely you can see the sample color names and/or numbers on some of the samples but I don't think they detract from the card.  If anything, they make it more interesting!

The banner on the mountain

Isaiah 18:3 All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds you will hear it.

This verse is a portion of the prophecy against the godlessness of the people of the land of Cush, but the target of the prophecy was not the thing that stuck me as I read it.  Whet I noticed was the fact that when God speaks against wickedness/sin/evil, there is no doubt in one’s mind as to who has spoken and/or acted.  When He raises a banner against sin, we will see it.  When He lifts His voice against sin, we will hear it.  There will be no doubt as to who has spoken and no doubt as to what He has said.  That has certainly been the case in my own person experience with personal sin when God has brought conviction to me.  But this also reminds me that at Jesus’ second coming, scripture says that every eye shall see Him.  It will be like a banner being raised on a mountain.

Washi tape

I love washi tape... that paper tape so popular with crafters these days.  It comes in every color and design you can imagine, and I have bought rolls every time I have found it on sale because I can see great potential in using it for cards and other paper crafting projects.  I have used it several times on handouts when I taught Sunday school and a few times when making a scrapbook page, but I have managed to collect quite a bit, as you can see:

Since my box is full I decided it is time to work on using the tape a bit more often.  I counted 75 rolls (not counting the lacy rolls in the bottom two sections of the box that are not actually washi tape) and there is no more space for any more.

I have three favorite designs of washi tape cards and yesterday afternoon I sat down and made a card using each style and using as many different rolls as I could.  My favorite design is the yellow based card although the black "hello" card is a close second!  

Which one do you like best???

Sympathy card

I needed to make a sympathy card and when I saw the latest challenge from Freshly Made Sketches I knew that was the pattern I wanted to use. 

 Here is the card I made:

Rebuilding my walls

Micah 7:11 The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries.

Once again I am struck by the poetic imagery used in the Scriptures to describe a spiritual truth!  This chapter of Micah talks about the effect of sin and its consequences and punishment on Israel but then comes this verse to describe what comes with restoration after repentance and turning from the sin.  It reminds me that even though I may have a low point after sinning, the day will come when I can look ahead at a new beginning, so to speak.  I can have full restoration spiritually, when I rebuild my walls, and can even see growth (extend my boundaries).  I never have to stay just as I am, just where I am.  God’s pleasure is to see my walls strong and boundaries increased/extended to new areas.  He wants me to be strong and continue to grow.

The Never-ending circle of salvation

Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.

Salvation seems, from this verse, to be tied together with trust, courage (strength) and security (defense).  God is our salvation.  He becomes our salvation as well.  Because He is my salvation, I can trust Him.  Because I trust Him, I have courage (I am not afraid).  Because I trust Him, I am strong in the face of challenges.  I know I have a defense against those challenges.  Because I am courageous, trusting, strong, and defended, I have salvation.  I see this as an example of the unending circle, where one thing leads to another yet it all comes back to the same place: salvation, trust, courage, strength, defense, salvation, trust, courage, strength, defense, salvation, and so on and on goes the great effects of what God provides for me as long as I place my confidence in Him.  It is all centered in God Himself living in me.

Monochromatic efforts

This has been a full week for card-making.  Lots of illness as well as birthdays among our friends which has kept me busy making cards, plus the incentive I mentioned yesterday concerning encouraging others with cards.
When a friend had emergency surgery yesterday, I decided that was the time for me to try my hand at making a monochromatic card, i.e., using shades of just one color.  I've always shied away from doing that for some reason, but I was glad I shed my fears and made this card:

I embossed the top panel and just added the white flower for a spot of contrast.  Will definitely try this again!

It takes time

Amos 9:14 …I will bring my people Israel back from exile.  They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit…

This verse is my reminder that God carries no grudges!  When we are spiritually restored, whether initially in our salvation or in those times when we must be restored following our wandering or backsliding, our restoration can be “complete.”  It may take some time and effort to be fully restored but it can and will happen.  When God brought Israel back from exile, He did not perform a miracle to get the cities, houses, vineyards, or gardens back to their full potential.  The Israelites had to work hard to make that happen.  And it did not happen quickly.  All the restoration took time.  It will be that way in our lives as well.  There will be things that take time for full restoration even though the spiritual exile is over in an instant.

Friendship cards

Last Sunday our Sunday School lesson was about the value of encouraging others and the challenge was made to find a way to encourage at least one person in the coming week.  Of course, that got me to thinking about making some encouragement cards that talked about friendship to send to the women God placed in my heart.  So on Monday I sat down with some paper and ink and made several cards to send out during this week. 
The first one I made was all black and white and I really liked how it looked when it was finished.

I used a black and white patterned paper for the background, then stamped and embossed this cute little girl on a piece of plain white cardstock and wrapped some black ribbon around the bottom edge before gluing it to the patterned paper.  I used black and white washi tape to attached a printed message on the inside.

The second card was totally different, using lots of red, orange and yellow.  I have a light bulb stamp with which I stamped and cut out light bulbs using three different papers.  As you can see, I used a glittery gold paper for the center bulb, which, as you move the finished card, looks like it is turning on and off!  I had not thought about that effect, but it was a fun discovery after the fact!

Both cards now sit in our mailbox awaiting the mailman and their delivery tomorrow or the day after to the recipients.



I was reminded of the fact that although I am no expert in art, and my cards are not the fanciest ones you can find, they can still bring a smile to the recipient and in that way I can encourage them.  I know how I feel when I get something like that, and it never matters to me how perfectly done the card is

Just a routine?

Amos 4:4-6 Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.  Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings – boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do.

Sarcastic would be the word I would use to describe what God is saying here through the prophet Amos!  The Israelites were following all the law as it had been ordained through Moses, yet the rest of their lives showed that it was just surface worship, just following a routine, not worship and obedience from the heart.  God knew their hearts, and He could see their insincerity.  In the rest of this chapter it is evident that they did not turn to, or return to, true faith no matter what God sent their way to try to get them to turn back to Him.  It is so easy to fall into that pattern of useless and unfocused religious activity.  May God be pleased to keep me from that.  I want to have a vibrant, living worship that makes a difference to me and a sincerely faith that affects those around me.

Smoky Mountain faith

Isaiah 7:9b If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

This picture of mountains from our trip one time to the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina came to my mind when thinking about this verse this morning.  They depict strength to me in their steadiness through years of varying weather and other natural phenomena.  My faith in God, in His goodness, His righteousness, His omnipotence … faith in all of that is what keeps me going even in times and circumstances that are difficult.  If I do not believe God is in control and that He will help me through those times, then I will falter.  Faith is what undergirds me.  If my faith falters, I will falter.  That is probably a key reason many people become bitter and even completely turn away from God.  They begin to question God and His omnipotence in all things and before they realize what is happening, they are no longer standing in faith.  I cannot face life successfully, i.e., “standing”, if I do not stand in my faith that God is in control.  I want to have Smoky Mountain faith.

From the belly of the whale

Jonah 1:16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

As much as we do not want to admit it, and as much as we may want to avoid it, there are times when God takes drastic measures in order to show His glory to people, especially unbelievers and wayward Christians.  Jonah is a case in point.  He was a prophet who was trying to avoid obedience.  God had to use drastic measures to obtain his willing obedience but in the meantime, along the way to his submission to God’s will, Jonah’s situation brought a revelation of God’s power and authority to the sailors on the ship who needed to know God as something other than just one god among many.  I want to be quicker to obey and easier for God to use, but if there is a time when I am not, God will be ready to do what He needs to in order to get me ready to obey and serve.  If that ever has to happen, my prayer is that my response to the adverse circumstances He allows will be like Jonah’s as seen in his prayer from the belly of the great fish: “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” (2:7, ESV)

Protect myself

II Chronicles 25:15b Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?

It is very difficult to understand why King Amaziah began worshipping the idols he had captured from the Edomites when he defeated them in battle.  The Bible does not tell us his thought pattern that brought him to that.  Earlier in chapter 25 we are told that as king, Amaziah did what was right in God’s eyes but not wholeheartedly.  Yet, somehow Amaziah got way off balance spiritually and fell prey to the idols of the enemy.  It made no sense but it happened.  After his refusal to accept the prophet’s reprimand, everything fell apart spiritually for Amaziah.  I can see from this story that there is a great danger in allowing a small crack in the wall of spiritual defense.  The phrase “not wholeheartedly” gives me pause for thought in my own life.  I must be careful to repair every crack as soon as I see it so as to protect myself from spiritually straying.

Procrastination

II Kings 12:6 But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple.

Procrastination may not be the major “vice” of a lot of people, but I see it in some form or other, at one level or another, in every person and in most situations.  It is something we all have to guard against all the time.  We do not know what the reasons were for the long delay in repairing the temple in King Joash’s time, but something kept the priests from carrying out the repairs.  It was not lack of funds.  Offering had been brought regularly.  It was not lack of support.  The King had spearheaded the idea.  Perhaps it was lack of leadership planning.  No one appears to have been named as being in charge of the repairs.  Or perhaps the priests did not want to deplete the treasury.  We do not know the reasons but the result was the same … the repairs did not get done for 23 years.  It was God’s house that suffered from human procrastination.  My prayer for myself is that I will never allow procrastination to keep me from doing what God’s plan is for my life.

However ... yet

II Kings 10:31 Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart.  He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.

Jehu was chosen by God and anointed by Elisha’s servant to be king and to do away with King Ahab and his wife Jezebel and the wickedness they had brought to Israel.  He accomplished that, and he destroyed the servants of Baal as a part of that cleansing of Israel.  For that obedience, God blessed him with the promise that four generations of his would be succeeding him as kings.  One has to wonder what other blessings Jehu missed out on because of the “howevers” and the “yets” in this story: 1) HOWEVER, Jehu did not turn away from the worship of the golden calves, and 2) YET he was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, two things I am pretty sure Jehu saw as “minor issues,” but they were enough to keep God’s full blessing of prosperity at bay.  Israel decreased and was eventually overtaken by an enemy.  That disastrous future might have been avoided had Jehu completely and carefully followed God. 

Just in time

II Kings 8:5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land.  Gehazi said,” This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”

This incident reminds me of the perfect timing of God in our lives.  So many times events seem to be coincidences but God uses those “coincidences” as tools to enhance the impact of the lesson He wants us to learn.  This women “just happened” to arrive at the palace to make her appeal to the king just when the king needed to see the evidence of the truth of what Gahazi was telling him.  Her appearance was a way of cementing the truth of the power of God to the king.  Her timely arrival was also God’s way of providing for her need, as seen in the next verse, when the king assigned an official to take care of her need without much effort from her in making her appeal.  So they both benefited from the timely interaction.  If that is not proof of how God’s timing is perfect, no other would be!  God is working every event to do His will for me, just as Romans 8:28 says!