Release

I love orange and I love the combination of orange, white and black, so I really enjoyed doing this page.  I had a whole lot to journal which was very personal so I wrote it all on the next journal page where I had scraped the leftover orange acrylic.  Then I ripped it out, folded it up and stuck it on my journal page.  Then when I want to read it again, I can just unfold it:

The backround is orange and a little white acyrlic.  Then I stencilled the Mini Abstract Leaves by The Crafters Workshop in white and Delicate Backround by That Special Touch in orange. 

 On the folded journaled page I scraped my home made texture paste through the Delicate mask.  I just love that texture.  I also brushed a little more orange here and there:

Then I stamped in black.  The birdcage seemed very appropriate for my page.  This was another freebie that came with my magazine this month:

And of course the birds.  I can't stop using birds at the moment :)  This one came with the freebie stamp set.  I stamped them all over and cut one out for the top of the A: 

I'm pleased with the finished result.  But the main thing is that it really mirrored my journaling. 

I'd been very burdened by a family problem for a very long time indeed.  There seemed no solution and although I had prayed a lot for this I didn't seem to get an answer.  However, God tells us to cast our burdens on Him:

 Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.

1 Pet 5:7

I realised I was asking God for a particular answer but I finally got to the place where I said, 'You know best, God, I trust you.  Please work it out whichever way seems best to you'.  And I finally got peace about it.

The title of the page is 'Release' because that is what I felt when I had finished.

Have you finished a journal page and found you've got peace?

Heart flowers

We had great fun today at Scrap and Yap Papercraft, a monthly craft group which I run with my friend, Sarah.  This month's theme was hearts and it was great seeing everyone's creations.  Here is a card I made using hearts and twine for the stems.  We had to use twine to take part in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  I love twine, so that was easy :)

I was inspired to make this card when I saw a stamped hearts on stems card by Becky F also on this Wednesday challenge see it here.

I just love using hearts and have loved this month's theme at our craft group.  Of course hearts symbolise love and love is the most important thing of all - I guess that has something to do with it!

I'm linking up at Simons Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. and Word Art Wednesday.

Big Hearts

Here are two more cards I made for our craft group, Scrap and Yap Papercraft, meeting tomorrow :)
We are focusing on hearts this month and this time I've used one large heart:

This is a lovely scripture and most appropriate for a heart!

This one is large patchwork heart:

 

I love to sew on my cards, the stitching gives them such a lovely soft effect.  I always sew by hand since I only have a tiny mini sewing machine which only does straight stitch and I like zig zag best:

 

I love using hearts and am looking forward to seeing what our members create tomorrow!

Undo

This week's Scripture Lessons and Lyrics challenge was all about turning to God for help in all our personal struggles where we do the things we know we shouldn't and don't do the things we know we should.  Patter wrote a truly moving post - (read it here) .  This really spoke to me:

Are you frustrated with something you do? Do you feel like giving up? Do you think God is done with you and has given up on you? Absolutely not! He is waiting with loving arms for you to come to Him and rely on Him through every struggle, every shortcoming—everything. 

I struggle with my health because I get bouts of chronic fatigue and when I'm in the middle of one I really have to fight to stay positive and at times I really have felt like God has given up on me - which is so NOT TRUE.  Then again when I'm feeling ok I don't do the things I know I should do like exercise - I really need to do Pilates because it helps with the bad arthritis I have in my hips. But do I do it? NO :(

The song we studied was Undo by Rush of Fools (listen to it here).  This is a wonderful song with great lyrics, the chorus really spoke to me:

Turn me around, pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, I need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one
Who can undo what I've become

I loved the lyrics so much I decided to include them all on my spread.  The same with the scriptures, I just couldn't choose one, so I included them all:

 

I'm actually doing a 6 x 12 mini book, so this is what it looks like, doesn't come out very well in a photo:

 

This is the left hand page with the lyrics which fold out:

 and the right hand page:

 I really like the trees and the birds:

 I have a thing about birds at the moment.  Do you like his pearl eye?

 

God really is the one who can help us whatever the circumstances.

Art Gone Wrong!

Well, what can I say.... I started this page with such high hopes.  I had an image in my mind - I wanted to create a lovely page with lots of texture and lots of layers and depth and interest, a bit  grungy but beautiful.  I'd scraped a little texture paste through the flower stencil and stuck some lovely old hymn music down plus some random pieces of patterned paper.   I coloured the flower and backround with Derwent Inktense blocks and started to stamp away.   At first all was well and then it all started to go horribly wrong and go muddy!  I tried to put it right:

• I gessoed, then painted over the patterned paper which was too dark and didn't seem to go with the rest of the colours I'd been using
• Ditto the stamped brown butterflies, but I messed up one even more
• I wiped off some of  the stamped map
• I messed up the flowery hearts so had to paint over them and stamp again
• I stamped more circles
• I stamped my title to go over the butterfly I'd messed up
• I wrote loads of journaling all over the page, at first to disguise the mistakes but then because all this stuff poured out!

The page was totally different to what I'd been aiming for.  But you know what....when I came to look at it the next day, I liked it!!!  I'll tell you why further down :)

Here it is:

 

This was the lovely texture paste throught the stencil:

 

Stamped hearts and circles:

 The butterfly I messed up:

 

The title I stamped to go over the butterfly:

 Loads of journaling: 

 

I love how I wrote 'life' over the circle, looks highlighted - a happy accident!

I liked my page because as I started journaling, it made me think, this is just like life.  My life has turned out completely different to how I imagined it.  I never dreamed I would get bouts of chronic fatigue and have to watch how much I do.  But my life is still good despite it.  Also because I've had to slow down I've become much more patient and I hope compassionate.  I've had time to start my blog and I've discovered art journaling.  Its amazing I'm doing art journaling because I was always hopeless at art.  So good has come out of it, just as in this art journal page.  We may think things have gone wrong, but wait until the end when we can see the whole picture and we'll find that good things have come out of it.  And it says it clearly in the bible:

For we know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him 

who are called according to His purpose.

Rom 8: 28

I learned a lot doing this page!

 What art or anything else have you had that's gone wrong but has ended up well in the end?

I'm linking up at Art Journal Every Day , Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and
Creative Every Day

More Hearts

Here is another card I made to take to the next Scrap and Yap, a craft group I help run - we will be focusing on hearts in the next session which is next Friday.

I love hearts!  You can do so much with them.  Last week I made a card with flowers made out of heart shaped petals (see it here) .  This week I've used a heart punch:

I really like how this card has turned out.  Its different to how I planned it - how often does that happen?!!  I was going to add a sentiment in one of the squares instead of a heart but then decided I wanted to include this verse which I love:

Love bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor 13:7

Love definitely puts up with a lot!  Thank goodness for love!

I'm linking up at Word Art Wednesday

Forgiveness-Healing-Freedom

We have a regular Saturday night fellowship and prayer meeting with a group from our church and this week we ended up talking about forgiveness.   Quite a few of us shared on how we had had to forgive someone who had hurt us.

I shared how I had found it really really difficult to forgive someone who had hurt my husband, Dominic, really badly.  I think its sometimes harder to forgive a person who has hurt a loved one rather than hurt us.  I knew I had to forgive because forgiveness is a thing we are instructed by God to do -

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you;

Matt 6:14 

At the end of the day, we know that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins so who are we to deny forgiveness to anyone?  So I made a choice - I chose to forgive this person.  The trouble was that feelings of resentment to this person would surface again.  So I forgave them again.... and again.... and again.  It actually took years before those feelings of resentment finally went and you know what, I felt a whole lot better.  If we hang on to unforgiveness, the biggest loser is ourself.  Those feelings of unforgiveness and resentment just act as a big pollution in our hearts and fester and cloud everything.  But only just let them go and we feel a whole lot lighter - we feel free!  

This inspired my next page for Creative Every Day January challenge - Past, Present, Future 

I used distress ink pads for this page, I sponged a very light Tumbled Glass backround then stencilled the flowers - a gorgeous Prima stencil - and the raindrops followed by stamping - IndigoBlu script and Banana Frog circles from the build a flower set:

 I stenciled the cage:

 and this lovely bird flying free:

 Then the journaling which came out lopsided - grrr - when will I learn to write in pencil first:

I added the swirls around the journaling and liked them so much I stamped them round the edges as well:

 

 Have you found it hard to forgive someone?

I'm also linking this up at the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge
and Art Journal Every Day

This week its on the letter A.  A has just got to be for art and my art journal.  

Joy - what it is and isn't

I'm loving My One Word for 2014 - JOY!  And I'm loving doing a whole art journal on it.  I planned to do a page a week on joy but I've already completed 4 and started a 5th! 

One of the first things I did was look up joy in a thesaurus - there were loads of words and expressions for joy and rejoicing so they all had to go on a page.  Then I remembered an old Every Day With Jesus 2 month daily devotional booklet on joy which I had.  One of the first days explained the difference between joy and pleasure and this became my next page.

Here's the Joy Words page:

The backround is acrylic.  I usually scrape it on but for this one I used a paint brush and also a little water.  Then I stamped, I love this Floral Swirl by IndigoBlu which was part of a magazine subscription gift.

I stamped circles in a Brilliance ink pad for some shimmer:

 And some more stamping in black, Fireworks this time by Banana Frog which I've had for years:

I doodled the title and I love how its come out:

Here is Joy is Not Pleasure:

This time I scraped acrylic then stenciled and stamped:

I wrote the title and highlighted in white:

  

Journaled how joy is not pleasure, pleasure can be stolen from us:

 

 The joy of the Lord cannot be taken from us.  I love the bit which says joy can rise to rapture, or sink to peace.  Isn't that true?  That was in the Every Day With Jesus booklet:

This is why I want to learn to have the joy of the Lord, because the joy of the Lord is constant and deep and does not depend on circumstances - please help me learn this, Lord!

I loved doing these two pages.  I hope you can read the joy words and expressions.  Which is your favourite?

Hearts

We've decided to focus on hearts for our next session of Scrap and Yap Papercraft, a monthly craft group my friend Sarah and I run in Northampton.  The next session is on January 31st and we take a few of our own makes to get our members started off so I thought I would make a card using hearts.


I love using hearts to make heart shaped petals for flowers so this is what I did (not a very good photo today!) :

The tag has the scripture word art from this week's challenge at Word Art Wednesday.  This is a beautiful scripture from Psalm 146: when we set our trust in God, when we rely on Him to help us and we set our hope in Him we are right with Him and happy or blessed.

I'm linking up at Word Art Wednesday and also at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

He is the Lord

I'm taking part in The Scripture Lessons and Lyrics Challenge run by Patter Cross on her blog Triple the Scraps.  This will be her 6th year of hosting the challenge and my first for doing it! The theme for the first one was 'You are the Lord' and I loved it.  We had a song - You are the Lord - by Jeremy Camp, to listen Click here and scriptures based on the themes of the song.  The song and the scriptures help to focus on God as He really is, on His love, mercy, kindness.  He is the Creator God and as His children He guides, comforts, strengthens and protects us.  He is totally wonderful!

I initially thought I would do this challenge as an art journal but Patter is a scrapbooker so her page was a beautiful creation and it inspired me to do mine as a 6 x 12 mini scrapbook.  I love scrapbooking and haven't done any since I started art journaling.  Since I wanted to include lots of writing I made a double page spread:

But the pages also look like a 12 x 12 when put together:

On one side I've got the themes of the song:

And on the other the scripture that really summed up this study for me:

You Lord are forgiving and good

Abounding in steadfast love to all who call to you.

Ps 86:5

I love ribbons!  Here I've ruched them all up:

I really enjoyed doing these pages and can't wait for the next study.

Faith - past, present and future

I was really struck by this verse when I was reading my bible and praying the other day:

Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

Matt 21:22

It got me thinking about faith again and what it means.  I can remember things in the past that give me confidence to hang on in there in the present and hope for the future.  As a Christian I can trust in the past in what Jesus has already done for me.  This helps me to hold on in the present while I'm believing for the future.  What an amazing encouragement to pray!

I was inspired to do this page in blue for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  I particularly liked Andrea's page which was all blue and also on faith.  This page also fits in perfectly with the Creative Every Day challenge this month - Past, Present and Future.

The backround did not come out as I had planned - how many times has that happened!!!  I scraped black acrylic then covered with blue acrylic with the idea that I would remove some of the blue through a stencil to allow the black to show.  But the blue just dissolved into the black when I dried with a heat gun - lol!  I loved this dark midnight type blue I got and you can still see a very little of the black.  Then I sprayed with Blue Ice Cosmic Shimmer:

Then stenciling:

I sponged Versa Mark through the rays, added glitter and dried with a heat gun:

Then I stamped and embossed the FAITH with snowflake sparkle:

I loved doing this page - and it helped my FAITH go deeper.