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Wednesday 9 March 2016

Spring Follows Winter

Its ages since I last posted and ages since I did anything creative :(  I've had a flare up of chronic fatigue which hit me out of the blue and it sapped all energy and, almost worse, all creativity!!!  How can that be?  Always in the past when I've been in the middle of a chronic fatigue bout I've managed to keep creating - its what's kept me sane and going through it, knowing I would get through it.  So this time round I've been quite discouraged to find that all inspiration has gone. The times that I tried it ended up in the bin!!!!

I usually pray a lot too and derive enormous comfort and hope from knowing that God is with me, giving me grace and strength.  But this time, I've found that hard too!  Brain fog (a sympton of CFS) has been especially bad this time and its been hard to pray.  The wonderful thing, however, is that our God is faithful and gracious and He has been there every time I have turned to Him and prayed.  I may not have had the energy and strength to pray as much as normal but when I have drawn close to Him He has been there faithfully waiting to give me that comfort and hope and grace which I've needed.  I've felt the sweet touch of His Holy Spirit and the knowledge of His love for me.  And what amazing blessing that is!

So I've kept going knowing that just as Spring follows Winter, strength will follow fatigue and now I am getting better and stronger again.  Here is a journal page which is the only thing I have managed to do in the last month:


I used a page in my journal which already had the backround colour - leftover paint from one of my autumn colour projects.  I couldn't get enough of these colours back then and I still love them now!  I added stencils using sprays and sponged paint:


 Plus some stamping.  The script is a favourite from IndigoBlu and the grid is a fly swat which I saw in a shop for 50p and thought I could use as a stencil!!  Its actually better as a stamp:


Then I stamped flowers from a new PaperArtsy Kay Carley set:


I stamped in black:


  and highlighted in white:


I did this a couple of weeks ago.  It was fun to do and I think I can feel inspiration stirring.......

I'm linking up at:
That's Crafty - Stencils and Masks challenge
Creative Every Day
Craft Stamper

Friday 12 February 2016

Birthday Card

I have been busy making invitations to my daughter's wedding which is why I have not posted or visited your blogs much recently.  I simply had to take a break and play this week and here is a card I made for her birthday.  


I love to combine challenges - sometimes they all go together like this time:
at Country View Crafts the current challenge is 'make your own backround'; at PaperArtsy it is wax; and at Craft Stamper it is 'text me'.  Ooooh, fun to do all three!  I decided to make a masterboard and brayered a backround - my favourite way of starting off and learnt from Leandra at PaperArtsy:


I added some stencilling and stamped my favourite script backround randomly.  For the wax challenge Leandra showed us how to use Portfolio crayons with a stencil.  I loved the sound of this so had to have a go:


You get this really cool effect when you heat set:


Then I cut up the backround for my card base.  I stamped some gorgeous PaperArtsy flowers by Sara Naumann (no 14), coloured with Portfolios which really do give a wonderful vibrant colour and cut out:



Finally, the sentiment:


This was such a fun card to do - thanks for all the inspiration!

I'm linking up at:
PaperArtsy
Craft Stamper
Country View Challenges
Create With Joy Friendship Friday

Friday 29 January 2016

Scripture Cards Display Book


Last year I took part in the Glory Art Scripture Challenge where every fortnight there was a different theme with scriptures we could study.  I made scripture cards for my glory art and if you've visited before you will know how much fun I find them to make.  WARNING...... if you are minded to try them they are very addictive!  I had a whole pile of them by the end of the year which I knew I wanted to make into a devotional book.  In the end I made them into a very simple display book so I can have different scriptures (and art) to enjoy each day.


I mounted them on black card.  Initially I wanted to do them singly but there were too many :)


I used book rings to bind them together using my trusty Crop-a-dile to punch the holes several pages at a time:


Each page is double sided so that when I get to the end I simply turn the display around and start again to go through the other side:


For each challenge I made four ..... but sometimes five or six cos I couldn't stop making them :)


I kept to the same colours and supplies for each challenge so they would be a set:


I would often start with a masterboard and then cut up before finishing each one individually which gave a nice cohesive look to each set:


Sometimes I'd use texture paste which gave a lovely dimension to them but made sticking the strips of verse tricky!


The strips are often wonky .... but it is a home made book after all!  I never did learn to cut straight and they were too narrow to cut with my guillotine:


Of course I am doing the challenge again this year and shall have a whole pile more to make into something.  Why not come and join in the fun?

I'm linking up at:
Create with Joy Friendship Friday

Monday 25 January 2016

Glory Art 2016 no 1: Limitless

I was so glad that Patter has decided to do the Glory Art Scripture Challenge again this year.  I loved doing it last year and have made all the scripture cards into a little devotional display book which I must photograph soon so I can show you.

In the meantime the first challenge for this year was 'Limitless'.  Its so good to focus on God, on who He is, what He is like, to try and get to know Him better.  To think of God as limitless is wonderful:  think of His love for us... infinite; His grace.....beyond measure;  His power......boundless;  His mercy.....inexhaustible; His goodness.....neverending.  So when I am struggling with a problem, with tiredness, with whatever it is, I simply turn to God, think of Him as limitless and know that as I turn to Him, yield myself to Him and ask Him to help me He is there for me.  As Jesus said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible".

Here are my scripture cards:


I used to make a set of four last year, but since it is only going to be monthly instead of fortnightly this year I thought I'd do eight!  Here are the first four:


I used the same supplies for the second four:


I started off  brayering paint in a couple of shades:


Adding some stencilling:


Then I cut them up, 8 to an A4 card:


I love script stamps and the lovely backround interest they give, either faint:



 or more prominent:


The flowers are from a Kelly Panacci stamp set which I've had for years:


There is a good variety in it, with big and small flowers:


So each scripture cards looks very different:


Such fun to do!

I'm linking up at:
Glory Art Scripture Challenge
Create with Joy Inspire Me Monday
Creative Every Day

Friday 22 January 2016

Creative Doldrums

I have not been around in blogland much this year yet and the reason is that I've been in the creative doldrums!  I do all my arty activities on my kitchen table so I had to pack everything away for Christmas and having packed it all away I simply could not get going again this year despite having received some new crafty prezzies.  What does one do when stuck in the creative doldrums?  This:
ask a friend round who wants to play!  My friend Sue came round and spotted my Scripture cards which I did all through last year and wanted to make some too.  I couldn't say no of course, so we took out paints and stencils and stamps and played and I'll show those in another post soon.

It was just the encouragement I needed.....it was fun!  So next day I picked up my art journal and though I still felt 'rusty' and like I didn't have much inspiration I got on with it.  Here is my page:


I started off with a bluey wintry backround, inspired by the wintry theme at Art Journal Journey.  I'd felt like I was hitting a brick wall when I was in the middle of the doldrums so it seemed like a good thing to add, plus I love doing walls!


I added more stencilling and finally the hearts which is the theme for the current challenge at PaperArtsy and seeing all the projects with hearts which I love using was also wonderful inspiration.

This heart was a freebie with Craft Stamper magazine:


I stencilled some hearts with texture paste and sponged in red for a splash of colour:


and I added trailing string to each heart to make them seem like they are floating up and away:


Do you ever get in the creative doldrums and what do you do to get out of them?

I'm linking up at:
PaperArtsy
Art Journal Journey
Craft Stamper


Sunday 10 January 2016

Glory Art - His Gift and His Love

Hello my blog friends, a very Happy and Blessed New Year to you all.  Its been over a month since I last posted, amazing how life happens and time flies!

Here are the scripture cards I made for the final Glory Art challenge for 2015 which was on His Gift and His love.  I love these scriptures.  Every day we live is a gift to us from God and every day He loves us the same - He is steadfast and true and faithful - He loves us every step of the way and whatever we are going through.


I brayered paint in a few colours:


Then I had fun with my yummy new Christmas prezzie stamps and stencil:


A PaperArtsy Ellen Vargo Eclectica (08):


and I love the print flowers from Sara Naumann (14).


I've loved doing the scripture cards and completing this challenge.  I'm busy mounting them on black card to make into a simple devotional book which I can display.

Its a great feeling to complete a challenge, but also sad.  Fortunately, Patter is going to do Glory Art challenge again in 2016.  This year it will be monthly instead of fortnightly - so since there will only be 12 Glory Art challenges this year I'll just have to make double the number of scripture cards for each one!

Blessings to you all.

I'm linking up at
Glory Art scripture challenge
Creative Every Day
Create With Joy - Inspire Me Monday