THE BLESSINGS OF CREATIVITY...

I thank the LORD JESUS for each day that is given me to create wonderful projects...As always, I give Him all the glory.


Saturday, November 24, 2018

Scripture Series: Everlasting to Everlasting Card---Join Us for Another Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hi everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all of you here in the Blogging world.  So sorry for another late post as this week is just crazy for me.  We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day in the house of Church friend and later on---with my hubby's family.  God is so good and we are totally thankful for all the blessings and even the trials that shows us how faithful He was/is to His promises to never leave us nor forsake us.  Jesus is the Source of all the blessing we enjoy and we are grateful to the Cross as the means by which we receive them.

Anyway, I want to bring to you my featured card that highlights our Scripture Word Art (you can download for free at the WAW site) for our Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW) that started recently.  It comes from Psalm 103:17 which says, "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."  Oh, the depths of the mercy of the Lord!  Before we can know or understand God, we need His mercy to see with faith;  to capture our true spiritual condition that would lead us to repentance.  If we don't believe in the God who created us, you will feel no need to repent for you would think of no one to account for.  But the Truth of the matter is, God has built upon us a "conscience" (moral compass) that will always remind us of God and His statutes.  The reason why some deny the existence of God is because they don't want to be accountable to Him so that they can follow their own worldly and lustful desires.  But just because they deny God, that doesn't mean they're not accountable to Him.  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." They can run and hide as much as they want but nobody is going to escape the reality of God's judgment.  Many are seeking for things that would give meaning to their lives and once they reached the pinnacle of success and can buy everything they want, they'll discover that none of them truly satisfy. And in their desperation, they still manage to harden their hearts and refuse to call on the One and Only Lord that can fill their void---Jesus Christ!

So, what is God's mercy?  Simply put, it's when God removed the punishment our Sin deserved--- the moment we placed our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the Cross.  For the penalty of Sin is Death and we (all human beings) are incapable of saving ourselves since all of us are born with the Sin Nature (originated with Lucifer).  The Sin of Man (happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam formed an alliance with Satan by disobeying God) cannot go unpunished and we needed Someone pure and holy (without an iota of Sin) to die in our place---a ransom to our freedom.  Only God is holy and because of God's love for mankind, He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our Sin and die at the Cross. So that by His blood and death, we'd become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as if Sin never happened. God's mercy is boundless for everyone who placed their faith in God's victorious Son. In our good days and bad days, God sees in us the victory that Jesus accomplished at the Cross.  We should never allow our feelings and circumstances to erase this Truth in our minds and in our hearts.

Let's expand on what the other half of our featured verse meant.  What is righteousness and what does it mean to be righteous in the sight of the Lord?  I would like to quote what gotquestions.org published on this topic as it truly made a wonderful explanation.  It says, "The Bible describes the righteous person as just or right, holding to God and trusting in Him (Psalm 33:18–22). The bad news is that true and perfect righteousness is not possible for man to attain on his own; the standard is simply too high. The good news is that true righteousness is possible for mankind, but only through the cleansing of sin by Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have no ability to achieve righteousness in and of ourselves. But Christians possess the righteousness of Christ, because “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is an amazing truth. On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus. This means that we are made righteous in the sight of God; that is, that we are accepted as righteous and treated as righteous by God on account of what the Lord Jesus has done. He was made sin; we are made righteousness. On the cross, Jesus was treated as if He were a sinner, though He was perfectly holy and pure, and we are treated as if we were righteous, though we are defiled and depraved. On account of what the Lord Jesus has endured on our behalf, we are treated as if we had entirely fulfilled the Law of God and had never become exposed to its penalty. We have received this precious gift of righteousness from the God of all mercy and grace. To Him be the glory!"  God is so good that He extends that righteousness from generation to generation for all of us that fear, trust and love Him."
  
For this Card, I used an embossing folder and stamp (used in the envelope) that came as a freebie from a magazine I bought several months ago.  I was pressed with time and don't have the luxury to color and fussy cut images to make my usual layered cards.  I decided to utilize my Distress Inks and sponge several colors for this Fall inspired card.  After laying the colors to my satisfaction, I ran the panel with the embossing folder through my Cuttlebug and the magic happened.  I inked another cardstock and then ran it through my printer for the Word Art.  I also used a Martha Stewart Border Punch for the lacy heart border for added dimension.  Lastly, I stitched several panels of this creation.  Simply beautiful!


EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING CARD

EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING CARD CLOSE-UP

EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING CARD INSIDE

EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING CARD WITH ENVELOPE



This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Calling All Sistahs---CAS
LeAnn's World---ATG
Creative Crafters---ATG
Worldwide Open DT---ATG
Crafting with Friends---ATG
Creative Fingers---ATG


Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the Scripture Word Art (download for free at the WAW site) 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 await our winners from our lovely sponsors for this week---The Project Bin ($15 GC) and Imagine That (Digi Images).  So excited to see what you come up with.  I pray that you live boldly, freely and joyfully bringing glory to Jesus Christ always.    

Friday, November 9, 2018

Scripture Series: Cinderella Before and After Cards---Join Us for Another Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hi everybody!  So sorry for the delay in posting this project I made for our Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  As always, one of my cards here feature the Scripture Word Art (you can download for free at the WAW site) from God's Word in Psalm 26:7 which says, "That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,  And tell of all Your wondrous works."

In this season of Thanksgiving here in America, we have a lot to be grateful about.  If we truly are believers of the Lord Jesus Christ (Born-again, John 3:3), we know that everything happens for a reason.  Good or bad, we know that God is in control and that we can always depend upon Him in all situations.  We express gratitude to people that God brought to our lives that blessed us in different kinds and ways.    God can use anyone to deliver His message, His blessings and hope for us---His children.  However, we must be careful not to center our focus on those whom God used but to give thanks and ascribe glory to the very Source of all our blessing---GOD HIMSELF!

Anyway,  we just finished casting our votes in the Midterm Elections and have chosen our leaders and representatives.  I will be lying if I tell you that I am extremely happy with the results after learning that the Democratic party took control of the House (Congress).  Despite the wonderful things happening in our country as God uses our current administration to restore our country back in order in just less than two years (after nearly a decade of ungodliness and destruction brought about by the previous administration), other people chose to give their support over godless men and women who have openly declared lawlessness and hatred for God to legislate on their behalf.  It's hard to fathom the utter deception that had befallen those who decided to support these kind of politicians who does not acknowledge God and our Constitution.  Because for God-fearing people that are operating with wisdom, the choice was crystal clear.  As a believer, I know that God is in control and because He is, I am at peace.  But sometimes,  I couldn't help but think of what these godless leaders would conspire to do next to harm our nation?  For their minds are  dominated with selfish and demonic thoughts continually.  They have lost all manner of decency as their evil plans to destroy this nation through lawlessness and godless acts are now proudly proclaimed and done in the open.  While I was quietly dealing with this frustration, God reminded me of a name---GIDEON!  I decided to refresh my memory about the story of this Godly man and found a video that God used to reveal His heart to me.  So I want to share with you what I wrote in my Facebook page a few hours after the 2018 Midterm elections.  You can find the VIDEO at the very end of this post and I suggest that you take the time to watch it too.  Here's what I posted:

FRIENDS, I NEED TO SHARE THIS AND I ASKED THAT YOU TAKE THE TIME TO READ AS YOU ACTIVATE YOUR SPIRITUAL EYES/EARS: As I inquire of the results in last night’s 2018 Midterm Election, I felt sad upon hearing that the lawless party has taken control of the House (Congress). How could many people be so deceived as to put these God-haters who had been proven to promote death, destruction, division, satanic worship and lunacy be given the power to govern and allow them to wreak havoc on the many great things that had been accomplished. Without any of their support, our country prospered in all levels which sure benefited every American. But it didn’t take a while for me to snap out of it as the peace and assurance of God’s control and sovereignty began to engulf me. Immediately, He reminded me of GIDEON. That in Israel’s fight with the Medianites, though they were strongly outnumbered, God reduced their army even more. Why? Because when we have everything in our favor, we as people tend to think we won because of our own might/power. When we gain victory on situation we knew none of our efforts would work, that’s when we recognize God’s hand and give Him all the glory. So, I felt that I needed to share this Gideon (short) video to all of us American who fear and rely upon the Lord. The parallelism to our time is astounding as many people turn their hearts against God worshiping other gods like Baal (child sacrifice aka abortion in our time, sexual immorality and pursuit for riches and power) along with many others. We are given a leader to free us from the consequences of our sin as a nation and restore us to the righteousness of God. Remember that all things work together for good to those who love God and live according to His purpose. Please watch and be blessed! I pray that as God comforted me, it will also encourage us and propel us to continue to fight alongside God till we see the enemy vanish in this country."

This is truly profound and I know this is God's message to all God-fearing Americans at this time. Surely if we have our way, we would want to sit back and relax and have our government do everything for us.  Many would be placing their trust in our POTUS, to the leaders of our government and their positions rather than placing their faith upon God who uses people to deliver unto us His blessings and victory.  I am not saying we should not thank and acknowledge people but let's face it, many do really put their trust in people, in one's power and might, rather than God.  I see that in social media comments daily.  The Truth is, we need to acknowledge the hand of God not only in the affairs of our nation but in the world.  We cannot sit back and relax and pretend like no one wants to harm our country.  Let us continue to pray and trust God and do whatever He tells us to do as we encourage one another to fight the good fight of faith.  Though we are led by our President, God is the ultimate Commander of this entire universe and everyone is accountable to Him.  Nothing takes place without His permission. So, when things are not going our way, remember Psalm 30:5 which says, "For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."  In Jesus, we are never without hope!  Let us be bold and speak up, proclaiming Truth and rebuking lies.  In every victory, always give the glory back to God!  Worship God, not man.  He alone deserves it! 

For this Card, I used a couple of images from Mo Manning Stamps called "Cinderella (Before and After)" and colored it using my Touch Five/Prismacolor markers.  The base is a white CS, cut and scored for an A2 size cards (4.25 x 5.5 inches).  The DP's are from DCWV.  The sentiments were of course our Scripture Word Art while the other comes from one of our sponsors for this Challenge, Stamp Simply from the "Words of Encouragement Set."  I purposely made a CAS design to more on the Scripture and how it relates to the images.  I love it!


 CINDERELLA BEFORE AND AFTER CARDS


 CINDERELLA BEFORE CARD WITH ENVELOPE


CINDERELLA AFTER CARD WITH ENVELOPE


This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

A2Z---Give Thanks
A Perfect Time to Craft---ATG
Classic DT---ARG
Crafts Galore---ATG
Craftyhazelnut's---Patterned Paper
Eclectic Ellapu---ATG
Just Keep on Creating---ATG
LeAnn's---ATG
Let's Craft and Create---ATG
Love to Craft---ATG
Love to Scrap---ATG
Oddball Art----ATG
Worldwide DT---ATG
YSP---ATG
Brown Sugar---Thankful
Creative Fingers---ATG


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 several times in two weeks.  A great prize awaits our winner from our wonderful sponsors---Stamp Simply Clear Stamps (Stamps and/or Die-cuts) and Sweet n' Sassy  Stamps (Digis).  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, meditate on the goodness of the Lord and rely on His promises.  Expect only wonderful things from Him each day.  His presence in us enables us to do the impossible.


HOW GIDEON WAS USED BY GOD

Monday, November 5, 2018

Encouragement Series: One Cup at a Time Card---Join Us for our November Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello there, guys!  Time to highlight another inspirational card for our Anything Goes Challenge at 613 Avenue Create.  We have an optional theme of "Christmas and/or Winter" for this month.  But like always, you're free to be as creative or simple so there's no reason for you to miss our fun challenge.

I can't  believe we are almost at the end of this year.  But my fave part of being in this season is the cool temperature we have here in Texas.  After many months of just temperatures near and over hundred degrees, I am thanking God for the chill.  And I can't help but relate that to seasons we go through in our lives.  Sometimes too hot, sometimes too cold and at times, in between.  When there's no rain, we are out and about, doing a lot of things outdoors  on vacation.  We're on a past-faced mode just enjoying the no hassle, everything going well kind of days.  We are able to accomplish a lot of things and visit places we've never been.  But on rainy days, we tend to postpone things and stay home, trying to avoid the inconvenience and the hassles of driving in the rain, the puddles, the mud and also the strong winds.  We hide and slow down even more during the winter.  We are very picky where to go and only head out when necessary.  Where I live, temperatures can go from very hot to really cold in one day so, we have to have strong immune system in order to withstand the drastic changes in the environment.  Like what many of us do dealing with life in general.

But the good news is, God is present in all of our seasons! As we go through it physically and spiritually, He is always there to see us through.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God."  When we truly acknowledge the hand of God in our daily circumstances and willingly put our trust in His divine wisdom and love for us, His creation, we have a safe place to go to no matter what circumstances we encounter in this life.  By having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Born-again, John 3:3), I can handle everything life throws at me knowing He is with me/in me always.  Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  I consider this my life verse for it is in this Truth that I can go through each day with confidence. Whether it's summer or winter, hot or cold, dry  or wet and everything in between, He navigates His life in me and through me.  All I needed to do is to give Him the driver's seat and go along for the ride.  And because He has given me a blueprint of His plan, His Word (the Bible), I can understand the signs and takes note of His instructions while He empowers me with wisdom to lead myself and others to this special and wonderful place that He prepared for all who trusted in Him.  His Name be praised forever.

For this Card, I used an image from Art Impressions Stamps called "Latte Love" that I watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches square card.  The DP's are from DCWV and Recollections, the layered flowers are from Prima with the center embellishment from Heidi Grace, the white nail head gems from Imaginisce and the glitters from Stickles (Crystal).  I also use Nestabilites die for the Scalloped circle.  Lastly, I stitched all over this project. 


ONE CUP AT A TIME CARD


 ONE CUP AT A TIME CARD SIDE VIEW


 ONE CUP AT A TIME CARD LAYERS


 ONE CUP AT A TIME CARD INSIDE


ONE CUP AT A TIME CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX


This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Art Impressions---Lots of Layers
Always Fun---Watercolors
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Path to Positivity---Anything Positive/Shades of Green
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG
Paper Nest Dolls---ATG
Dragonfly Dreams---ATG
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends---ATG
Penny Black---Make Someone Smile
Gem of a Challenge---ATG
All Sorts---Pretty Papers
Catch the Bug---ATG
Crafty Friends---2 or More Patterned Papers
Colour Crazy---Coloring
Crafty Catz---ATG
Creative Fingers---ATG
Jo's Scrap Shack---ATG
QKR---ATG
Quick Quotes---ATG


This is it for now, guys.  Make sure to join us at our neighborhood---613 Avenue Create---for an Anything Goes Challenge with optional theme, "Christmas and/or Winter.  If you want to be challenged more, take on our Optional Twist.  But there's really no reason for you to miss it. Can't wait to see what you create. The Cross of Christ is more than the just a story passed on from generation to generation.  It's a story of love, grace and hope that is good for today and all of eternity. 

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