Using my new embossing folder

When I received my new issue of Papercraft magazine yesterday, it contained a neat embossing folder that includes a grid of bows and a field of flowers all in one along with some neat ideas of using it, so I tried it out on a card for sil Lois who has been sick with the flu.  I embossed a piece of pink paper then rubbed white ink over it and it was really pretty when it was done. Backed it with a piece of silver foiled paper so set off the pink and white.  I have put it into the mail ... hope she likes it.

What if ...

Exodus 3:4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush.

One has to wonder what would have happened if Moses had not turned aside to see that burning bush.  Perhaps he would have spent the rest of his life being a shepherd, never having any more ambition that guiding and protecting the sheep.  Never being independent from his father-in-law/s wishes, never seeing more of the world than the deserts of Midian.  He would probably have never seen his family again, never done anything significant.  But Moses did turn aside to see the bush.  God did use that act to call Moses away from the behind-the-scenes lifestyle.  God was able to use Moses for a great purpose that might never have happened if Moses had not turned aside from his usual routine and heard a special message from God.

Roses

Another birthday card... still using the same set of papers and die cuts from Paper Wishes  and with a slightly different look because of combining brown and red, which I don't usually do, but this didn't turn out too badly, if I may say so myself.

Although I seem to be notoriously bad at photographing the insides of my cards, so this one is a little blurry, you can still get the idea of it!

Belated birthday

I have had a pad of 8 x 8 Graphic 45 paper for quite some time and because I really liked the colors and designs on the paper I have never figured out what exactly I wanted to do with it, but when I needed to make a kind-of fancy birthday card this week, I finally made myself pull it out and I am so glad I did.  I love the result!  May have to make a couple more cards from this pad like this one.

This is a 6 x 6 fancy gate fold card (when it is closed) and it doesn't want to stay closed on its own so it has a belly band to hold it closed, and I think the belly band gives it an extra measure of "fanciness."  Not to speak of the extra burst of color it added to the card.

When you slip the band off ...

And the inside...

Can you see the pocket in the middle section?  It has two tags with short messages on them and a surprise message behind them ...

One tag says "God bless you" and the other is a Bible verse, "His mercy is new every morning." 

I hope the fun of this card and its bright colors will ease the pain of receiving a belated birthday greeting!!

Catching up on cards

I keep forgetting to document my cards and other paper craft efforts for some reason.  Maybe it's because I have never developed the habit of photographing anything.  But for whatever reason, I finally remembered this morning as I was preparing to address some envelopes that I had not taken any pictures of my work.  One envelope is already sealed, but I remembered before doing that with these two cards.

The first one is a sympathy card.  The front is cut off on the right side so the red paper on the right side of the inside of the card shows.  The paper is printed with the "crooked" design which threw me off at first.  It takes a little getting used to, but it has grown on me.

This is the second card... a birthday card, the first of several I need to make for more January birthdays coming in the next week or so.  I'd better get busy making them (and hopefully remembering to photograph them) before I run out of time...

All mine

Genesis 17:4 … my covenant is with you…

Here, God is reminding Abraham that He (God Himself) had made a promise to him (Abraham) and to only him.  God did not make this promise to anyone else living on the earth at the time.  As I thought about the emphasis in that promise, I was reminded of the fact that the covenant was made exclusively with Abraham and his descendants.  In the New Testament, through Christ, even Gentiles such as I am have been made a descendant of Abraham through my/our spiritual birth.  I thought immediately of a song we used to sing:

            Every promise in the Book is mine;

            Every chapter, every verse, every line;

            All the blessings of His love divine;

            Every promise in the Book is mine.

The promises of fruitfulness are mine.  The promises of blessing are mine.  The promises of “everlasting-ness” are mine.  All mine…

The Blessing

Job 42:10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends.

How did I miss this for all these years past when I read the account of Job’s suffering yet remaining confident in God?  I had never noticed until this time that Job’s friends spent most of their time talking to Job about his lack of faith and failure to live up to God’s stands and yet God was very displeased with them and required a large sacrifice from them (see verses 1-4).  What struck me today was that it was only after they had “made things right” between themselves and God, and Job himself had prayed for them, only then did God restore Job’s fortunes!  Job was now ready, and so were his friends, to see God’s blessings in material ways.  They had all learned some important spiritual lessons so now they could see the material/physical aspects of blessing.  My ability to receive and enjoy physical blessing will be enhanced when I have grown in the spiritual understanding.

How to understand

Job 32:8-9 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.  It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

The older I grow, the more I am understanding the truth of these verses from Job.  Although there are definitely ways in which age and life experience produce a certain wisdom in us, at the same time I see how this is not necessarily true in spiritual things.  For a person who has, and is, seeking after God, age can be a factor.  However, I have talked with a lot of people who have lived a long time but have not spent much time in pursuit of God and it is evident in the way they live, the way they talk about God, and in the lack of spiritual knowledge and of the Word of God.  My continuing prayer is that I will grow old as a wise woman, one who understands what is right.  To do so, I must continue to allow that “breath of the Almighty” to enlighten me.

We will understand it better bye and bye...

Job 30:15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

When you read through these chapters in Job in which you see this verse, it becomes quite clear just how anguished Job was over his troubles.  It is equally clear that he had no idea of why all this troubles had come.  There is no indication that he ever learned why his life had been so upset with calamity, so we see him trying to run down his list of potential reasons yet not being able to come to any conclusion.  It has reminded me again that what God allows in my life may have been allowed for reasons unknown to me but not to God.  My comfort and my confidence must remain securely planted in God.  “We’ll understand it better bye and bye…”

Rainbows

Genesis 9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

I was thinking about the rainbow that God created as a perpetual sign to mankind (and all the animals!) of His promise.  As I thought about the beauty of that rainbow that enamors us every time a rainbow appears, I started thinking about how each color in the rainbow carries some special significance to me concerning me relationship with God:

Red reminds me of LOVE … God’s love for me that has no limitation;

Orange reminds me of JOY … God promises everlasting joy to me as I follow Him now and in eternity;

Yellow reminds me of GOD HIMSELF … the center of the colors and the source and center of all life;

Green reminds me of GROWTH … my spiritual growth promised to me if I continue to follow and obey God;

Blue reminds me of PEACE … the peace that passes all understanding;

Purple reminds me of ROYALTY … God is King of Kings and I am part of the “royal priesthood” of believers.

I think that from now on when I see a rainbow it is going to have an even stronger effect on me!

Shut in

Genesis 7:16b And the Lord shut him in.

Noah did not (probably) totally understand what God was about to do.  He had never experienced a flood of any kind, especially one like what was about to happen.  However, Noah had a strong relationship with God.  He walked with God (6:9), he found favor in the eyes of the Lord (6:8), and he obeyed everything God told him to do (7:3).  Because of this total communication and obedience, God took care of him.  He may not have understood the importance of closing the door in preparation for the flood even so God shut him in.  In that phrase I find great courage and comfort because it reminds me that even in my unfamiliar life events that I could not totally prepare for ahead of time, God will shut me in.  I will be safe.  I will be secure.  I won’t have to know or understand everything in order to be kept in safety by God because I am walking with Him and obeying Him just as Noah did.

What is the source?

Genesis 2:9; 3:6 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

God made trees for two main reasons: to be a source of enjoyment for their beauty, and to be a good source of nourishment as food.  He intended them for only good things yet in the account of the fall of mankind into sin, we see the enemy of God use those very same things in his temptation of Eve.  What a vivid reminder to me at the start of a new year that even good things can be used to sin against God.  By adding one short phrase in Genesis 3:6, Eve sinned.  Look: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [italics mine], and that it was a delight to the eyes, [notice the similarity to 2:9?] and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [where did that come from?]…”  I pray that I will be discerning as to the source of every idea that comes to me so I can sort them out and not fall prey as Eve did to false sources.