Love Bug card

To be more accurate, I should probably call this card a masculine birthday card because that is really what I made, but I found this cute little VW bug in my stickers/Dazzles and some paper that had old cards on it so I combined them to make this card for a male friend whose birthday is coming soon.  I recently received an order I made for some neat new stamps and it fit perfectly with this card.  The pictures should explain ...

I decided to enter this card in the current week's Freshly Made Sketches


 Here is my card:

Heightened awareness

Isaiah 22:12-13 In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine …

I am often reminded in Scripture that we do not see sin as God sees it, and these verses reminded me yet again.  Part of God’s condemnation of Israel was based on how they responded to God’s assessment of their sinfulness.  They took it so lightly because they did not see their sin as “all that bad.”  It is only as I grow in my relationship to God that I will grow in my understanding of sin and righteousness, learning to view both from a godlier viewpoint.  I have seen that develop in my own Christian walk through the years.  After close to 70 years as a believer and follower of Christ, my understanding of God’s holiness and my own sinfulness is much keener and more sensitive and the seriousness of the matter is heightened.  My prayer for my family is that this will become true for them also, as they grow older

Golden anniversary

I made this card for friends who just celebrated their 50th anniversary.  What made it extra special was that I was their maid of honor!  (We were mere children at that time, of course).  I layered gold metallic paper with black and gold metallic paper then used bright yellow card stock for the top layer.  I embossed it using a design that included hearts and painted the hearts with gold Smooch.  After stamping and die cutting the banner, I embossed the words with gold embossing powder.  I thought it turned out nicely.  I left the inside blank and am going to write them a letter on the blank part to make it a little extra personal, considering our closer-than-usual connection.

Our security and stability

As I have read through the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament this time around in my chronological reading of the Bible, I decided to note the names of the kings as they took to their thrones (as you see in my sample picture) and as I have done so I have seen more than ever before the difference that following God made (and makes), even in the life of a nation.  On this page, for example, there is the name of one king for the nation of Judah, which is a nation that obeyed God's laws and worshiped Him only.  On the other hand, during the reign of that one king in Judah, in the nation of Israel there were four different kings.  For every one of those kings there is the statement that they did not walk in the ways of the Lord and did evil in the sight of the Lord.  It has been my vivid reminder that there are always consequences to our decisions to either obey and worship God or not to do so.  This is true in our personal lives but also true in a nation's life.  It reminds me to pray for our nation and its leaders as well as for our populace.  If we do not follow God's principles of living, who knows how long we can remain secure and stable? 

July birthdays

There is a long list of birthdays for the month of July on my list, so I've had to get working to get cards made in time to mail to them all, and I am already a bit behind, but here are three that I made from a set of birth flower papers I bought recently.