Scripture Series: Thy Spirit is Good Center Step Card---Join Us for Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello there, Crafty Peeps!   It's time for another Word Art Wednesday (WAW) Challenge and a free Scripture Word Art that you can download for free from the WAW site.  You may use it in your projects you link to our Challenge (not mandatory) or as a wonderful inspirational message for your projects.  I have featured it in my card today and it comes from Psalm 143:10 which says,"Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." 

My Life Application Bible blessed me with a wonderful exhortation of Psalm 143 that I would love to share with you.  It says, "David was losing hope, caught in paralyzing fear and deep depression.  At times, we feel caught in deepening depression, and we are unable to pull ourselves out.  At those times, we can come to the Lord and, like David, express our true feelings.  Then He will help us as we remember his works (Psalm 143:5), reach out to Him in prayer (Psalm 143:6), trust Him (Psalm 143:8), and decide to do His will (Psalm 143:10).  David's prayer was to be taught to do God's will, not his own.  A prayer for guidance is self-centered if it doesn't recognize God's power to redirect our lives.  Asking God to restructure our priorities awakens our minds and stirs our wills.

Time and time again, we experience difficulties and many storms in life.  One moment, we are overwhelmed with joy and the next, we are bombarded with many trials that takes our joy away.  We go through a roller coaster of emotions and many of those trying moments seemed to get the very best of us.  Though I appear strong on the outside, yet inside of me is a constant battle to drown out the negative forces that tries to take me down.  Unlike others that could cope up easily with pain and challenges, I have tendencies to dwell on the emotional aspect of circumstances that could easily lead to depression.   Before I came to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I kept so much pain and frustration inside me that stole my trust in those closest to me, my hope for a bright future and my zest to life.  Nobody knew how all these negative thoughts of life was eating me up inside because I was good in hiding them from public view.  Yet deep inside was an indescribable feeling of heaviness and  emptiness at the same time.  I thought to myself---"nobody cared!"  In my desperation, I cried unto God!  I called on the Lord before but something was different the very night I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.  I was tired of hiding and carrying the heavy burden of emptiness and frustration and leading a life that I thought was meaningless and purposeless. I knew deep down my very core that He was the Only One who could help me and make something beautiful of the mess I was.  That was nearly 3 decades ago...Today, I am still  a living witness of the grace, goodness and the love of Almighty God through Jesus Christ!  From the time I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (Born-again, John 3:3), the Holy Spirit of God lives inside of me and I am never alone in facing all the storms that are coming my way.  Like before, I still have the tendencies to overthink things but the Holy Spirit reminds me that I don't have to carry the burdens on my own.  I can place it all upon Him and with His strength through me, nothing is ever too heavy!  Psalm 34:17-19 tells us, "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”  Surely, taking God's righteous way of living prescribed in His Word (the Bible) always brings peace, hope and trust for a brighter day after every storm.

As a believer, we are not exempted from the storms of life that seeks to destroy our soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit (intuition, communion and conscience).  Because I have an intimate relationship with the One who calms the storm and settles the raging seas, I can live in perfect peace and joy no matter what comes my way.   The Bible contains the promises of God to us.  So, when we pray,  declare His promises to our circumstances---and the Holy Spirit of God, in agreement with God's Word, will keep you in God's perfect peace always. 

For this Card, I used an image from Stampendous called "Campground" that I watercolored using my Stabilo 68 markers.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches center step card design.  The DP is from Heidi Grace, the brads from Recollections and the glitters from Stickles (Crystal).  Lastly, I ran this card through my sewing machine for some regular and fancy stitching. 

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD LAYERS

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD SIDE VIEW

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD INSIDE

THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Creative Knockouts---Something to Say
Time-out---Inspired by Words
Der---Vacation
Not Just Cards---ATG
Sweet Stampers---Summer
Creative Crafters---ATG
Worldwide Open DT---ATG

There you have it, folks!  Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can enter up to 5 times each week.  Wonderful prizes to be won from our wonderful sponsors---Newton's Nook ($20 GC) and Poly's Paper Studio (Digital sheet) .  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, cheer up and let the peace of the Lord overtake you today.  I serve a good and faithful God---Jesus Christ! 

Scripture Series: The Things of Others Card Set---Join Us for Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  It's time for another bi-weekly Challenge happening at Word Art Wednesday (WAW). As always, it's Anything Goes with an inspirational theme/message.  We are featuring a Scripture Word Art (you can download for free at the WAW site) that comes from Philippians 2:4 which says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."  In order to understand this verse, we have to take to consideration what the main verse is all about which talks about "imitating the humility of Christ."  I would like to share with you what my Life Application Bible say about Philippians 2:1-5. It says, "Many people---even Christians---live only to make a good impression on others or to please themselves.  But "selfish ambition or vain conceit" brings discord.  Paul therefore stressed spiritual unity, asking the Philippians to love one another and to be one in spirit and purpose.  When we work together, caring for the problems of others as if they were our problems, we demonstrate Christ's example of putting others first, and we experience unity.  Don't be so concerned about making a good impression or meeting your own needs that you strain relationship in God's family.  Selfish ambition can ruin a church, but genuine humility can build it.  Being humble involves having a true perspective about ourselves (Romans 12:3).  It does not mean that we should put ourselves down.  Before God, we are sinners, saved only by God's grace, but we are saved and therefore have great worth in God's kingdom.  We are to lay aside selfishness and treat others with respect and common courtesy.  Considering other's interests as more important than our own links us with Christ, Who was a true example of humility.  Philippi was a cosmopolitan city.  The composition of the Church reflected great diversity, with people from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life. Although there is no evidence of division in the church, it's unity had to be safeguarded (Philippians 3:2 and 4:2).  Paul encourages us to guard against any selfishness, prejudice, or jealousy that might lead to dissension.  Showing genuine interest in others is a positive step forward in maintaining unity among believers.  Jesus Christ was humble, willing to give up His rights in order to obey God and serve people.  Like Christ, we should have a servant attitude, serving out of love for God and for others, not out of guilt or fear.  Remember you can choose your attitude.  You can approach life expecting to be served, or you can look for opportunities to serve others (Mark 10:45).  

What an amazing example of servant hood shown to us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The kingdom of God is truly different from the worldly kingdom we live in.  In the world, people look for people to serve them.  Those with influence/power/beauty and riches that would catapult them  to power and fame.  Yet the kingdom of God are comprised of people who looks beyond the expectations of this world. Because nothing we gain in this world would matter in eternity (except the ones done for Christ), we don't waste out time on things of this world.  Instead, we invest on the souls of people that they too  may know Christ and create more disciples for the glory of God.  If we clear our minds of any worldly ambition, we can see every position in the service of God equally important.  There's no such things as superstars and extras in the service of the Lord.  For the teacher, pastor, evangelist, prophet and apostles are doing what God called them to do; the singers, dancers and instrumentalists are equipped with talents to escort the congregation to declare God's glory; the door greeters, the porters and the elders are assigned by God to assists in the over-all operation of the Church;  these are some of the positions we expect to see in our fellowship/services.  But how about the ones that comes after the service and cleans the Church; those that mops the floors, cleans and freshens the bathrooms and those that throw the trash or mows the lawn?  These are positions not given much recognition by men.  But the Lord Almighty knows who they are and God is pleased with their faithfulness to serve Him.  I always have to remind myself to do things for the Lord, not on pleasing others.  That is so when I'm ignored, treated unfairly, unrecognized or robbed of opportunities, I don't get consumed by frustration.  The church is made of people who are walking in different levels of faith.  It doesn't matter how long they've been attending  cause they'll be some that are blinded with worldly ambition that could cause jealousy, selfishness and prejudice leading to discord.  In these situations, I am always encouraged by what Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Many people left their churches because they felt neglected, unrecognized or unfairly treated.  I understand how frustrating it could be at times but there are some who left for petty things,  I pray that we mature in our faith by focusing on Jesus than man's opinions or perception of us. 

By the way, I want to tell you the story on how I colored the images for this project with crayons, instead of my usual markers or water coloring.  Several weeks ago, my 12 year old son asked if he could borrow my alcohol markers because he felt his Crayola (120 colors) would not color great. He thought my markers were better based on how I used them in my cards.  Determined to show him that no coloring medium is useless (especially after spending nearly $20 for that Crayola set he barely used), I decided to color some images from Illustrated Faith Clear Stamps with his crayons. To my surprise, the colored images came out beautifully even though I haven't colored with crayons for ages.  My son was impressed and told me that it's because I colored well (LOL).  Just a few minutes later, God impressed upon my heart this principle/lesson---that those who trust in the Lord can make wonderful things from something others would consider useless or trash.  Like my son, I used to compare things with their counterparts and prefer the things I could easily work with.  Because of this, I ended up throwing things I haven't really given myself the chance to utilize.  Sometimes, you have to make yourself available to try new things and allow the creativity of God to work in you to make something beautiful out of the things you didn't prefer or consider.  If you believe you can do something wonderful because of the inspiration of the Spirit of God inside of you, everything you utilize in your creation renders a certain beauty.  God's inspiration makes all the difference!  Each coloring medium (cheap or expensive) works together with your inspiration to create a beautiful, one of a kind art.  This is great!  Then, God took me to the next level, "What if we can apply this lesson to our brethren and the people we meet each day?  After all, people are like colorful crayons at times.  What if we can cultivate friendship not only to people that we get along with easily but get to know others who may seem difficult or different and allow the Spirit of God to work wonders with that friendship?  My, oh my!  What a difference this would make in our relationships.  I know with people, this lesson is easier said than done.  But like everything we do for the kingdom, we have to allow the Spirit of God to work in us and through us.  Only then can we accomplish the impossible.  Glory to God!

For this Card Set, I used images from a couple of sets from Illustrated Faith that I recently purchased from Hobby Lobby. The base are A2,  pre-cut cards with envelopes from Paper Studio.  I die cut the lacy circles using my Nestabilities, punched some leaves with Fiskars and stamped the loopy border with my Stampabilities clear stamp.  The flowers are from Prima and the brads from Recollections.  I also incorporated some inking using Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers).  These cards turned out great. 

 THE THINGS OF OTHERS CARD SET

 THE THINGS OF OTHERS CARD SET WITH ENVELOPES

 THE THINGS OF OTHERS CARD (AQUA)

 THE THINGS OF OTHERS CARD (PINK)

THE THINGS OF OTHERS CARD (YELLOW)

This Card Set is entered into the following Challenges:

Aud Sentiment---ATG with Sentiment
Cards for Galz---Dies/Punches
Craft Rocket---ATG
Crafting with an Attitude---ATG
Time Out---Be Bright (Used very bright colors)


Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can submit up to 5 entries per week.  Our wonderful sponsor for this week are Pink and Main ($20 GC) and Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (digis). So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, cheer up and let the Spirit of the Lord inspire and lead you today. 

Fun/Humor Series: I Thought Accessorize Humor Card---Join Us for Anything Goes Challenge at 613 Avenue Create!

Hello everyone...I'm here to feature my card for our August Monthly Challenge which is always "Anything Goes" with optional theme, "Magic or Fantasy" at 613 Avenue Create.  With this project, I opted not to follow the theme.  Instead,  I'm highlighting one of my fave images from Art Impressions.  I made the card to give to a wonderful and fabulous elderly friend at our Church along with a crochet sandals that I also made for her.

For some reason, I always love to be friends with the elderly. They bring so much wisdom in their words and genuine sweetness in their actions.  When I was five, I had the privilege of living with my maternal grandparents and my Lola (grandma) took great care of us for a couple of years.  In those days (70's) and living in a remote province in the central region of the Philippines, we lived a very simple life.  Her home was made of wood and elevated from the ground (in stilts).  Our flooring in the kitchen had gaps made from laid out bamboos.  We slept on the floor with our "banig" (made from dried leaves that are sometimes dyed before being cut into strips and woven into a mat) and covered by a "kulambo" (mosquito net).  Our bathroom and toilet were under the house and had to go outside just to get to it.  It's especially scary for me as a kid to wake up in the middle of the night and go to the toilet on my own. There was no light down there and we had to bring a lit candle or flashlight to see.  So if I had to go, I needed to wake my Lola up to accompany me.  There was no television so me and my younger brother played inside the house, learned some crafting from my Lola or once in while played outside with other kids.  Though we didn't have much materially, each day was filled with happiness, love and lots of quality time.  After a couple of years, my parents took us with them to live close to Manila (Philippines' capital city)---hundreds of miles away from my grandparents home.  Though I've seen my grandparents briefly a couple of times during my growing up years, never again did I experience the awesome personal care and love they shared with me and my brother those couple of years.  And even to this day, "I truly missed them."  I also met my fraternal grandparents several times but never similar to the couple of years I spent with my maternal grandparents.  I can say that those were one of the happiest and memorable years of my life.  Now that all my grandparents and parents are gone, I long for this kind of love and interaction with the elderly.  I had the chance to show my love and appreciation to some of them in our Church.  I love them and I felt their love for me.  Each time I get to greet them at Church, they brighten up my day. 

Deep inside each and everyone of us is the need to feel loved and cared for.  Before God, I used to look for it from people and many of them didn't last and I end up disappointed.  But I submit to you that we ought to experience the great love of God for us through Jesus Christ in order to completely feel love and secure.  I firmly believe that "you cannot give what you do not have."  Now, that I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior and the depth of what He had to go through at the Cross to display (once and for all) how valuable I am to Him; that He gave up His life so that I can be free to choose and love Him back; I know now that I have so much love to give!  There's so much of His love in me that I can give love even if its not reciprocated.  The love of God just keeps pouring into me---boundless and endless!  Whether we have similar or different experiences in life, we all remember the time we felt loved by our love ones.  And if you're Born-again (John 3:3), you remember the very day God forgave you and poured His blood at the Cross that you (once bound to sin and rebellion) could be free to follow Him.  God's love is unchanging and His faithfulness abides forever.  When we know the love of Jesus, there's no room for disappointment for even if no one cared for you in this world, He's always there and He always loves.  No matter what your circumstances are (condition), we serve a loving and faithful God that will always see us through.

I would like to share a portion of the article "Why does God love us?" from gotquestions.org  It blessed me and I know it will do the same for you.  It says, "First John 4:8 and 16 tell us that “God is love.” Never was a more important declaration made than this—God is love. This is a profound statement. God doesn’t just love; He is love. His nature and essence are love. Love permeates His very being and infuses all His other attributes, even His wrath and anger. Because God’s very nature is love, He must demonstrate love, just as He must demonstrate all His attributes because doing so glorifies Him. Glorifying God is the highest, the best, and the most noble of all acts, so, naturally, glorifying Himself is what He must do, because He is the highest and the best, and He deserves all glory.  Since it is God's essential nature to love, He demonstrates His love by lavishing it on undeserving people who are in rebellion against Him. God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental, romantic feeling. Rather, it is agape love, the love of self-sacrifice. He demonstrates this sacrificial love by sending His Son to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin (1 John 4:10), by drawing us to Himself (John 6:44), by forgiving us of our rebellion against Him, and by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, thereby enabling us to love as He loves. He did this in spite of the fact that we did not deserve it. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).  God's love is personal. He knows each of us individually and loves us personally. His is a mighty love that has no beginning and no end. It is this experiencing of God’s love that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Why does God love us? It is because of who He is: "God is love." 

For this Card, I used an image from Art Impressions called "Dare to be Fabulous" that I colored using my Prismacolor/Touch Five markers.  The base is an A2 size white CS and the DP's are from my scraps. I was in a rush making this card that all the border cuts are done without dies---just good ole-fashion fussy cutting. 

 I THOUGHT ACCESSORIZE HUMOR CARD

 I THOUGHT ACCESSORIZE HUMOR CARD LAYERS

 I THOUGHT ACCESSORIZE HUMOR CARD INSIDE

I THOUGHT ACCESSORIZE HUMOR CARD WITH ENVELOPE

Special thanks to MakeAndDoCrew for the free pattern and tutorial for this crochet slippers.  If you're interested in this pattern, you can find it HERE.  If you want me to make one for you, please let me know in the comment and will discuss the details. BTW, I first learned Crochet and basic stitches from my Lola (Filipino word for "Grandma") back when I was five. She's a seamstress and great with needlework.  Though I never made any project for many years, I realized that the skills she taught me stayed with me all along which helped me tackle some wonderful patterns with less difficulty and fall in love with Crocheting just a couple of years ago.  Really, thanks to my Lola!
 

SUMMERTIDE SLIP-ONS

The Card is entered into the following Challenges:

A2Z---ATG
A Bit More Time---ATG
A Perfect Time---ATG
Artistic Stampers---ATG
Classic DT---ATG
Crafteezee---Summer
Crafts Galore---ATG
Craftyhazelnuts---Patterned Paper
Creatalicious---ATG/FairyTale
Color It---ATG
Daisy Chain---ATG
Digistamps4Joy---ATG/Add Sentiment
Fabrika Fantasy---ATG
Let's Craft and Create---ATG/Lots of Layers
Love to Craft---ATG
 MIUCB---ATG/Acrylic Block Stamping
Morgan's Artworld----ATG
Papercraft Business---ATG/Summer
YSBP---ATG


There you have it, folks!  Don't miss the fun by joining our Anything Goes Challenge at 613 Avenue Create.   Can't wait to see what fabulous projects you're going to highlight this month. Share the love of God to anyone you'll meet these days.