Little Birdie Told Me "Birdday" Easel Card---Join the Excitement for Another Anything Goes Challenge at 613 Avenue Create!

Hello Crafty Peeps!  I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday that I was unable to post this project on time.  I trust that you all had some great time as well with your family.  Yesterday's message at my  Church is part of the series in "Warfareology" that our Pastor had been preaching for many weeks now.  We ought to know who truly is behind all the evil happening in this world.  In other words, we need to know who the Church (called-out ones, Born-Again, John 3:3) is fighting against and what do we have to know about him. Lucifer, now known as Satan was one of the heavenly beings created by God.  He was created as a holy angel. Ezekiel 28:12-14 describes Satan as having been created a cherub, apparently the highest created angel. He became arrogant in his beauty and status and decided he wanted to sit on a throne above that of God (Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:15; 1 Timothy 3:6). Satan’s pride led to his fall. Notice the many “I will” statements in Isaiah 14:12-15. Because of his sin, God permanently removed Satan from his exalted position and role.  Now, we know that God gave Man the dominion and authority to rule over His creation here earth.  But when Man fell into sin, Adam gave that God-given authority to Satan.  That is why there's the widespread chaos, stealing, killing and destruction all over the world (John 10:10).   We ought to know that every person that works against God and willingly transgress from the principles of the Almighty based on His written Word have the spirit of the enemy working upon him.  God clearly tells us in Ephesians 6:11-13, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."   I have to remind myself these words every time I encounter people in person or at a political, media and entertainment and other spheres of influence.  Those who don't have concerns for LIFE (like abortion, terrorism and others) and are doers and supporters of  SEXUAL PERVERSIONS (such as Sodomy, Polygamy, Molestations, Pedophilia and countless others) and promotes the lies, schemes and wickedness of government officials and entertainment icons.  They are pushing their personal agenda and rebellion of God through immorality and indecency wrapped in deceptive (twisted Truth) package to those who are ignorant of God's Word.   Underneath that flesh and blood is the Puppeteer, the old serpent, that works with them like puppets.  We can't say that if we rid of those people in our government and public scene that our conflict is done.  Not at all!  Every person who does not have a personal relationship with Christ are spiritually owned by the devil and he can willingly influence and possess them to do his vile work for him.  I know this is difficult to hear and many preachers have stopped preaching about this Truth so that they can entertain their congregation.  But Truth is Truth!  The Word of God wants us to know who our enemy is---hiding underneath the human flesh.  We are to be spiritually sensitive so that we can escape his trap.  In our families, we have people who are spiteful of God and the devil uses whatever they have gone through or whatever they struggle with to exploit them even more.  We should stand firm in His Word and armed with love, battle with the wicked spirits that are using them.  As one who have been reborn and a recipient of the Holy Spirit of God that dwells inside of us after we placed our faith upon the finished work of Christ (His death, burial and resurrection), we possess all the power needed to trample the works of Satan.  Luke 10:17-21 tells us, "When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”  As one whose name is written in the Book of Life, we are to stand in the gap to reveal the devil's deception out in the open and assist in leading the afflicted to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  So, the next time our blood pressure goes up with righteous indignation towards the perversion we see happening in our world, remember the spirit/s that are behind them.  We are to pray for those individuals and ask the Lord to demolish those powers at work in them and apply the necessary action.  Jesus gave us full authority and we ought to use them as we wage war against all wicked spiritual forces here on earth.  "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  I want to share with you these words spoken by Jesus about God's True Children and we should take it with humility and understanding.  We are paid for with the blood of Christ and even the faith that we have to come to Him was from Him....And we ought to be grateful---very grateful for what He had done for us and share it with others!

"Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father. ”“Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:34-47)

Anyway, we have a new Anything Goes Challenge with an optional twist "Let's Celebrate" happening at 613 Avenue Create.  I decided to make a Birthday Easel card.  For this project, I used an image provided by one of our sponsors this week, Toadstool Printables, which is called "Serenity Prayer."  Our optional theme is "Celebration" so I decided to focus on the image and skip the serenity prayer sentiment that came with it.  I found some sentiments from my newest fave digi company, "From the Heart Stamps" and found two of the main sentiments in this project at the "Birthday Candle Birdbrain Set."  Anyway, for my main image, I colored it with my ProMarker/Prismacolor markers.  The base is Kraft that is cut and score to make a 5.5 inches square Easel card.  The two wonderful DP's are from my old set of papers from DCWV.  I die cut the fancy frame die from Spellbinder by running it through my Cuttlebug.  The flowers are from Prima, the buttons from Paper Studio, the ribbon and twine from my stash and I used a 1" circle punch from Fiskars to create the slot for the tag.  I stamped a swirl from Inkadinkado using Turquoise ink to enhance the background, added some Crystal Stickles to the flower and parts of the image and lastly, I took the time to do some regular and fancy stitches to this project.  I am very pleased and thanking the Lord for His inspiration.    

LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME EASEL CARD:

LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME EASEL CARD LAYERS/WHEN CLOSE:

LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME EASEL CARD TAG:

LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME EASEL CARD WITH MESSAGE SPACE/TAG:

LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME EASEL CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Artistic Inspirations---ATG/Twist of Swirls
Aurora Wings---Flowers
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Craft Your Passion---ATG
Cutie Pie---Layer It Up
Dream Valley---Things with Wings
Eureka Stamps---Flowers
Get Creative---For the Ladies or Mother's Day
Incy Wincy---Great Outdoors
Love to Scrap---Stitch in Time
Kraft Journal---Take Your Pick (Pink, Buttons, Tag)
Mema's Crafts---ATG
My Creative Moments---Flowers
Not Just Cards---ATG
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG/New Beginnings
Stamp and Create---May Flowers
Paper Girls---Cute Critters
Paper Nest Dolls---ATG
Whoopsi Daisy---Things with Wings
Catch the Bug---In the Garden
Pile It On---Cute Animal
QKR Stampede---Nature
Natalie and Amy---Animals
Party Time Tuesday---ATG
Paper Creator---Animals
Sister Act---ATG
Craftyhazelnut's---Patterned Paper
Wonderful Wednesday---ATG 

There you have it, folks!  Don't miss the opportunity to join our Anything Goes Challenge with an optional Twist at 613 Avenue Create.  There's wonderful prizes awaiting the winners from our lovely sponsors for this week---My Whimsical Little World,  Poppyseed Graphics and Toadstool Printables.  Can't wait to see what fabulous projects you're going to highlight this week.  I hope you have a wonderful week filled with the divine inspiration of God's Word and be able to share the Hope you have in you to bring light to the dark places in your sphere of influence.  Would love to hear your comments too.   Hugs, always!