Edify One Another (Free Scripture Verse graphic)

I'm behind on getting my guest designer project for Word Art Wednesday.  But I've been so busy the week slipped by me before I even thought about it.  Fortunately, Karen, the administrator for WAW, has all my projects for September, so it's been displayed there. 

I've had so much fun with my "guesting" this month.  It gave me the opportunity to get back into my craft room, something I haven't done much since the first of the year.  But I'm hoping with the fall and some changes in my activities that I'll be able to reorganize and downsize my craft area and get active again. 

Instead of crafting so much, I'm actually engaging more with people...and just trying to help friends and family more.  So I guess I'm trying to live out our challenge first for this week. It's yours to use as you want.

I haven't bought stamping supplies in forever because I made a commitment to use things from my vast stash.  I think it will last me forever!  I've always loved these little images...and have a whole collection of them.  I don't own a lot of the fancy dies for layering that so many use in card designs.  But I always gravitate toward the simple designs anyway.  So I was happy enough with my results. 

I plan on visiting a friend who is home following surgery.  David and I were there to pray with her before her procedure.  It always amazes me what a good feeling it is to go encourage and pray with someone.  It's actually one of my favorite things to do, but life often distracts me and I don't go as often as I should.  Maybe I should take her a few flowers when I go to see her next!   What encourages you and lifts your spirits? 

I plan on a walk this afternoon.  I know that will boost my mood...ready to be out of doors a bit in the glorious weather we are having. 

Word Art Wednesday: Draw Near to God

Welcome again to Word Art Wednesday!  Our scripture challenge is so relevant and personal to me this week.  For more than a week, I've spent time away from my normal routines, including the computer for the specific purpose of drawing near to God.  Life had become a little overwhelming for me with so many changes and unknowns in my extended family.  It seemed like nothing in life was stable, so I needed some time alone with God to get back on solid ground and root myself amidst all the changes.  God is good, my time with Him is always good and I'm feeling refreshed!

Our beautiful verse from Karen Murray is so versatile when thinking of design motifs.  So I've done several projects with it this week to demonstrate that while also showcasing some of our sponsors products.  Paper Temptress specializes is high quality cardstock and specialty paper.  Other products are available, but I'm showcasing samples from their cardstock line in my first project.

There is nothing quite like taking time apart from the world and drawing near to God for an intimate time of refreshing.  Even Jesus needed to do that.  He often left the crowds that clamored after him, departing from His disciples as well, to go to a secluded place to be alone with the Father.  Our world is chaotic as never before.  Time and pressure are accelerating.  We are crashing headlong into the last of the last days, and our world is rapidly changing.  We are seeing many of the signs Jesus told us to anticipate unfolding before us.  The perfect time to stand still and be with God is when life is rushing you at breakneck speed. 

Several amazing things happen when we go on a retreat with God.  First, He quiets our hearts.  When we lay the world and our obligations or allures to distraction aside, God steps in with a supernatural peace and quiet.  Part of my time with Him recently has been to simply be still before Him.  Being still is not in my nature, so it is a needed discipline in my life.  The quiet He brings stills my worried and anxious heart.  He refocuses me.  He trains my spiritual eyes to look on Him.  Once He has my undivided attention, He begins teaching. 

Part of my instruction during this retreat was to remember.  He took me on a journey of remembering all the places he has taken me, all the times His glory was revealed, the ways He has sustained me and strengthened me in the past.  He showed me again and again proof that He has never, ever, not even once failed me.  He has been with me, has guided and corrected, and has loved me unconditionally from the moment my heart was set upon His salvation.  Even before that, He orchestrated my steps so I would open my heart to Him at the right time in the right place, so I would surrender to His Lordship.  I can certainly declare His mighty works, not only in my life, but in the lives of my family.  We have been so blessed by His presence and providence.  Indeed, it is good for me to draw near to my God, to renew my trust in Him and to faithfully declare all His has been and done in my life!

I designed a card and this little quick easy gift bag.  I used the Navy Blue Leather and the Brown Antique Parchment cardstock.  Both types of specialty cardstock come in other colors.  The two I selected for this project go perfectly together. I also recolored the verse in Publisher and printed it on the Parchment paper to echo the navy/ivory color scheme.

In this view, you can see the luscious texture of the leather paper.  It's so easy to work with, and yields a beautiful finish. 

I backed the leather paper with Early Espresso cardstock for color, not because I needed the weight.  The leather cardstock would do nicely for a card or tag base.  I embellished the tag with some canvas ephemera I received from a friend.  I love it because it's embossed with clear print and you can use distress sprays to achieve any color you want. 

My second project is completely different, but show how wonderfully versatile digi art can be.  I enlarge our verse for the week and created this framed art piece.

For this I copied/pasted the rust houndstooth sheet from the Garden Delights paper pack onto a Word Document, the added the flower pot image from Garden Gifts right on top of the paper before printing.  I added another flower pot image to the side of the first (off the digi paper), so I could cut it out and pop it up on top of the original (see photo below).  That gives a nice dimension for the piece.

We'd love to have you join us for Word Art Wednesday this week and link up your own artwork.  We are thrilled that nearly 200 participants join us each week and offer so many wonderful inspirational art samples.  Come over to our main challenge blog to see what our sponsors have to offer and to see what the DT has designed for you this week. 

Thanks for stopping in!

Diane

Word Art Wednesday: Want a Lift?

I always look forward to Word Art Wednesday day!  It's like a breath of fresh air mid-week to find encouragement and instruction from God's Word through the beautiful graphic designs of Karen Murray.  Visit our challenge blog for more DT inspiration and chances to win amazing prizes from our sponsors.

This week's verse gently reminds us of how we are to stand before the Lord of the universe.  Not surprisingly, humility is the proper stance.  Humility requires balance in our self-image. 

In the simplest of terms humility is the virtue of a modest self image...not thinking more of yourself than you ought (Romans 12:3).  We can easily see application in this when thinking of arrogant, assertive people, those who are braggarts..I'm sure you're getting a picture of someone in your mind right now!  But the implications of this verse go beyond thinking too highly of oneself.

Arrogant, prideful people are indeed self-centered.  The world revolves around them.  However, I contend that it is also a sinful attitude to debase oneself.  I know women who are constantly degrading themselves, dissatisfied with every element of their appearance.  They think they are fat, out of style, hair is not right, can't find clothes to fit...on and on.  Self loathing is not godly.  We were formed by God, designed according to His plan for His purposes.  We need to take our minds off of ourselves and focus on God and the mission He has for us in life.

When we center our minds and our lives on Christ, there is no room for complaining, or thinking too much of ourselves one way or the other.  Could you imagine how much it would grieve God to hear a believer say, "I hate myself!"  I've heard that many times from many people.  I've been in the same room with women literally half my size talking about how fat they are.  I conclude they are thinking so much of themselves that have no concept of how that might make me feel.  With such self loathing, how they must despise me and my appearance.  What a miserable way to live!

I'm certainly not where I'd like to be physically.  I want to be healthier first and foremost.  I've been confined since Thanksgiving to moving in a wheelchair or crutches (severe injury to my ankle), and I cannot wait until I can lay my crutches down and start walking off some of the pounds I've accumulated.  I want to slim down...however, I don't constantly think about my size.  I don't think of my worth in terms of my appearance.  My worth comes solely from what Christ has already accomplished on the cross.  I was worth enough to Him, that He died to save me and secure a home with Him in heaven.  How could I put a price on that kind of love and sacrifice?  I acknowledge my health challenges, but I don't allow them to make me view myself in a sinful way.  And, while we all will wrestle with pride in various ways at different times (wanting to be right, putting our interests above others),  I can't claim any worth or accomplishment apart from Christ.  Any good that comes from me comes because Christ bought me, redeemed me, and is making me look more and more like Him everyday.  I have a LONG way to go, but I'm not where I was either.

We just have to remember that when we have the proper view of ourselves, seeing ourselves as God sees us, He will lift us up.  We don't have to wallow in the depths of self despair, self loathing.  We can be lifted to the plane of princesses, living for Christ because of Christ.  Do I love myself?  I don't think of it that way.  I just love what Christ did for me.  That is where my mind stays in a constant state of amazement.

I created my DT sample this week using this precious image from Katlyn Traxler, KnK Designs, available now at Daydream Designs.  The challenge verse and her image came across my desk at just about the same time.  A serendipitous delight!  They coordinate perfectly.  What is more gentle and humble than a little bunny?  Our God delights in lifting us closer and closer to Him.  I pray you will shed yourself of yourself (a life-long process for us all), and turn to the Father who loves you so much.

Sets Used:

Nest to Sky Digi Papers

10 sheets / 6 x 6 / 300 ppi / resizable

$3.00

(Designed by Kris Breach for Daydream Designs)

Juniper's Balloons

1 image / 3 sentiments / 300 ppi / resizable

$1.50

Designed by Katlyn Traxler

Word Art Wednesday: Happiness

Happiness.  Webster's Dictionary defines the word as "the state of being happy" or "an experience that makes you happy."  Poor definitions.  I was always taught not to define a word using the same word! An online dictionary adds:  1) good fortune, prosperity 2) the state of well-being, contentment. 

I've seen many people who attain fortune and prosperity but are far from happy people.  One doesn't have to be a etymologist to know the definitions of happiness above fall far short of grasping the true essence of happiness.  Our challenge verse at Word Art Wednesday this week is one of many in the Bible that captures the real source of deep happiness.

My DT Sample:

When God is our God, when our hope lies in Him for who He is, we are happy.  The world may be falling apart....OUR world may be falling apart, but if we place our hope, our trust, our faith in the Sovereign of the Universe, the God of Jacob, of Abraham...we can find true happiness.  That fact rests in our position as believers. We exist is a state of well being, much like the old hymn's refrain, "It is well, it is well with my soul."  When it is well with our soul we can be content, and to be content is to be happy.   Without Christ, our soul is at war with God, and there is no true happiness.  Once we surrender to Christ, He complete us, fills us, sustains us, empowers us, and preserves us for our home in eternity with Him.  He is our joy. 

I've known so many Christians who are really struggling with unusual challenges, or experience a season of trouble and turmoil.  Yet I see those same believers radiating joy in the midst of it all.  So self-help principles or positive thinking can dig us out of the mire of some of our most heart-wretching circumstances.  Note the message of the verse...happiness comes when we turn to God for help.  If we turn to worldly pursuits of pleasure, or mind-numbing coping skills, we will completely miss the joy that God has waiting for us.  I love the simple lyrics of another song by Chris Rice...

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for Love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain...so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk, sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain...then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can'’t contain your joy inside...then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on glory’s side...and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

Don't these words provide a perfect picture of what it is like to place our confidence in Jesus...through weakness and pain, struggles and hardships, love and laughter, life and death? Through it all, we find our joy in Jesus!

My sample showcases digi paper from Ticket to Bliss Digi Paper, and the frame is from Sending You Love Accessories.  I hope you'll join us for our Daydream Designs BLOG HOP that starts today too.  Our theme is Love/Hearts/Valentines...so this card is yet another inspiration for our theme.  

I hope you'll use the encouragement of this post to turn to Jesus.  And I hope my sample provides some inspiration for you to join us this week at Word Art Wednesday.  Our other design team members have some wonderful samples to share and Karen will share her wisdom about this verse too.  It will be a blessing to have you there. 

  Thank you for blessing my day!

Diane

Word Art Wednesday: First, the Kingdom

Nothing like posting for Word Art Wednesday on THURSDAY!  Despite my tardiness, I hope you love and will use this simply elegant word art from this week's challenge.  Karen Murray does absolute stunning work.

And the verse is an exciting challenge for us for a new year.  First things first.  Focus on priorities.  What else matters above God and His ways and purposes for our lives?  Nothing.  Following Him is blessing enough but He promises us the riches of heaven when our hearts are devoted to Him.  I do hope you'll join us for this week's anything goes design challenge.  Just keep your creations encouraging and uplifting.  Visit our challenge blog to see the other design team inspirations and to read this week's devotion by thought-provoking Karen Letchworth.  She always takes us deeply into the Word of God.  We also have some amazing sponsors this week. You just won't want to miss it.

My DT sample is actually on the CAS side of designing.  The script of the verse is so elegant it just begged to be the focal point of design.  I used SU die cuts to cut the shape of the verse and matted it in basic black cardstock.

The flocked paper is from my retired Stampin' Up! stash.  I just used one layer of it on the black cardstock base. 

I found this adorable metal heart charm in my stash and thought it represented the verse well.  When we seek God and His ways and purposes above all else, our hearts will be completely devoted to Him.  I so want that for my life.  I desire all that He has planned for me, because I know He always has my best in His heart.  His plans are to prosper me, to give me and hope and a future.  In fact, He has already brought His plans for me to fruition.  He has given to me a treasure beyond compare.  I have Christ eternally.  My hope in Christ is certain.  The righteousness I possess comes not from me, any good acts I've committed or even from a moral heart.  My righteousness, already bestowed at the cross of Christ, comes solely from His grace and mercy. 

We have everything we need, it is already added to us, when we seek God, His righteousness, through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

May this year be for you a year of seeking to know Christ and His righteousness more.  That's what I'll be pursuing and I hope you will join me.

Don't forget to hop over to Word Art Wednesday and link up your encouraging artwork.  We'd love to have you join us.

Thank you for blessing my day!

Diane

Colors of Fall (FREE DIGI)

Lately I've been myopically focused on Christmas, getting the prototypes designed for my mass card making project early next month.  Seems like I'm living on Pinterest these days!  But we are still having a gorgeous fall here in Missouri and I don't want to be so caught up in getting ready for Christmas that I skip a whole season!  That's one reason I LOVE this week's challenge at Just Us Girls.  

I love this photo challenge because of the vibrant colors showcased here.  Beautiful tablescapes like this one fascinate me.  It makes such a difference to guests to know you cared enough to set a warm and welcoming ambiance for them.  Look at the photo closeup.

Isn't it striking?  An abundance of warmth and beauty.  When thinking of a way to capture the highlights of the photo into a card, I immediately decided on using the outline version of my set, Bushel and a Peck, so I could use Copic markers to replicate the vivid colors portrayed. 

The tablescape certainly brings to mind the bounty of harvest season.  I chose the tipped basket with fall harvest images to depict abundance and blessing.  While I love the expedience of pre-colored digi images, it was so fun to leisurely color again with my Copics.  I forget how much I love doing it...how therapeutic it is for me.  

I printed off the image and sentiment on Naturals Ivory cardstock (SU).  Some people report having trouble with Copics on this paper medium, but I love the way it takes the color.  It blends colors so well, but you do have to have a very light touch and color just inside the lines so the color remains with the boundaries even when it spreads.  

One of my favorite things to pair up is SUs rhinestones (they are so sparkly) and my Copic markers.  I just brush whatever color I need right over the rhinestone.  The brilliance shines right through the color.  Instant rhinestones in any color you want.  

I chose a sentiment from one of our newest sets at Daydream Designs.  Karen Murray's beautifully scripted sets make gorgeous additions to cards or can be amazing in frames as artwork all by themselves.  Her Friendship set, is fantastic.   I used a spellbinder set of label dies to border the image piece, and used distressed ink (Tim Holtz) on everything.  

So there you have it...my submission for this week's photo challenge at Just Us Girls.  And may I be bold enough to give myself a shout-out; I was so honored to win their award for Chick of the Week for last week's color challenge.  You can see that presentation on their site HERE.  I'd encourage you to join in the fun of their weekly challenges.  Each week they focus on a different challenge element.  Those are listed on my side bar.  

Sets used for this project:

 Bushel and a Peck Outline Set

5 images  / JPEG and PNG

(not shown--one "backless" basket so you can fill in your own contents)

$3.00

 Bushel and a Peck Color Version

4 color images / JPEG and PNG / 300 ppi / resizable

$4.00

 Friendship Scriptures and Sentiments

by Karen Murray

9 images / JPEG and PNG / 300 ppi / resizable / recolorable

$3.95

FREE DIGI HAS EXPIRED

Thanks for stopping in and blessing my day with you!

Diane

Word Art Wednesday: High Places

You know what today is....go ahead and say it!  It's Word Art Wednesday challenge day and one of my favorite days of the week.  I get to join my sisters in Christ on the WAW design team and provide a little inspiration for your creative endeavors.  We do hope each of you reading this will participate by designing your own inspirational project and linking it to our home blog page at Word Art Wednesday.  Your participation automatically qualifies you for the chance to win a prize from our sponsor(s).  

Our Scripture Verse:  (It's FREE...just grab it here)

This verse means the world to me.  It's really quite an amazing, power-packed verse.  First it tells us that God is the source of our strength.  Without Him we would have no hope of victory in this life.  He also carves out for His children a perfect path.  Through the lens of the world, I would have to say my path has been anything but perfect.  I can see however, in retrospect, that when I was obedient and followed His direction, I never lost my way.  My less-than-perfect times always came through seasons of wandering or complacency.  I never liked staying there!  Far too uncomfortable a place to be!

My DT Sample:

When my mother, sister, younger son and I traveled to Ireland in 2011, I was the designated driver.  The scenery was absolutely breath-taking, but most of the time I missed it unless we could pull over.  I had to keep an attentive eye on the roads because they were so narrow and full of twists and turns.  We were often amazed that the route we were taking allowed for 2-way traffic because we had difficulty maneuvering with only our car on the road.  We were frequently on a dangerous precipice overlooking steep drop offs.

I was reminded many times while driving through Ireland how perilously close we can come to precipices of danger in life.  Even while we were ooohing and ahhhing over the majestic terrain, I'm sure we were closer to mishap than we knew on several occasions.  Those narrow, twisting roads clung to mountainsides like the sheep that dotted the steep and craggy hillsides.

Our God makes our path perfect and makes our feet stick to that path when we live a life of obedience.  We are surefooted and secure when we cling to God and His ways.  He makes our feet like the hind's feet so we can walk in high places.

One of the reasons we traveled to Ireland in the fall of the year was to distract us all from the impact of the first anniversary of my dad's passing.  Ireland was an amazing retreat for us all.  We were filled with awe and wonder again and again.  I think we all thought that surely the heaven that my dad was enjoying had to look a bit like Ireland!

Seasons have come and gone, and Ireland is a memory.  I hope to go back again someday, but I don't know if that will be possible.  I would love to experience those breathtaking views again.  But if I can't, I know that heaven awaits.  God has already set my feet upon the high places.  When I accepted Christ as my Savior my destiny was secured and my home in heaven was prepared.

My preacher daddy is home on those heavenly heights. I know as my days near their end, my feet will grip the solid Rock too.  No earth-bound schemes of men can make me slip and fall...God has already made my way perfect.  My destiny is secure because the perfect Son of God has gone ahead of me to prepare the way.  No weakness I possess will prohibit my entry, for Christ in His strength has conquered all my enemies, even Death itself. 

One of my dad's favorite hymns was Lord, I'm Coming Home.  It meant so much to him because it was like his life's story.  It's a fitting song of worship when we understand the mighty impact of our challenge Bible passage this week.

I’ve wandered far away from God,
Now I’m coming home;
The paths of sin too long I’ve trod,
Lord, I’m coming home.

I’ve wasted many precious years,
Now I’m coming home;
I now repent with bitter tears,
Lord, I’m coming home.

I’m tired of sin and straying, Lord,
Now I’m coming home;
I’ll trust Thy love, believe Thy Word,
Lord, I’m coming home.

My only hope, my only plea,
Now I’m coming home;
That Jesus died, and died for me.
Lord, I’m coming home.

Coming home, coming home,
Nevermore to roam,
Open wide Thine arms of love,
Lord, I’m coming home.

Daydream Designs Sets Used:

 

Fall is in the Air Color Set

 15 color images / JPEG and PNG

$4.00

(available in outline set; see also our entire fall line HERE.) 

 

Man of Mine Digi Paper Pack
10 sheets / 6 x 6 / 300 dpi / resizable 
$3.00 

Thanks for stopping!
Join us at Word Art Wednesday and link us to your inspiration!
Diane