I Need a Little Inspiration! (Free Scripture Digi)

How many times have we played along with color challenges that offer an inspirational photo like the one above (beautiful, I might add) and then created a card reflecting the inspiration?  I love doing that and find that it really does spark creativity.

God's Word does the same thing for me.  It inspires me.
 

 INSPIRE

: to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create
: to cause (something) to happen or be created

: to cause someone to have (a feeling or emotion)

 The one thing I know about God's Word is that it transforms you.  You cannot read it and remain the same.  At the point of coming into contact with God's Word, one of two things will happen.  Either you will walk away from it or you will embrace it.  Doing nothing is the same as walking away from it, so there is no middle ground.  Acceptance or rejection.  Belief or disbelief. Trust or willful distrust. Obedience or rebellion.  When I read God's Word it always makes me want to run to my God, to draw closer to Him, to listen more carefully, to bow lower, to look up more, to seek the Lord of my life.

The scripture offered this week by Word Art Wednesday's challenge blog is stunning scripted by the ever talented Karen Murray.  The verse alone is a powerful challenge.  Seeking God is a full time job, a life-long pursuit, a never-ending journey.  And I'm thankful for that truth.  I want to seek Him, to know Him more and I earnestly want to be like His Son, Jesus.

Drawing from the inspiration in the photo, I instantly picked this beautiful paper from my stash.  I loved this long-ago-retired paper from Stampin' Up! (Urban Garden) and it was a perfect reflection of the inspiration piece I stumbled upon.

As I often do, I recolored the verse text to a light gray, soft and wispy like the script. 

Please join us at Word Art Wednesday this week and add your own inspiration piece to our collection.  We'd love for you to link up your creation so all of us can be inspired by you.

No Goodbyes!

Though this is my last post as a design team member for Word Art Wednesday, I'm not saying goodbye to this fabulous group of designers.  Word Art Wednesday has had a place in my heart for a long, long time.  I just want to thank Karen Letchworth again (and again) for the wonderful opportunity to design for her weekly challenge blog.  I've appreciated her administration of the challenge, and her beautiful heart.  Her devotionals are always spot on.  I want to thank all the other design team members who so faithfully offer the most gorgeous inspirations for all of us each week.  And I so appreciate the beautiful renderings of scripture offered by Karen Murray.  They are a joy to use on cards and I'm grateful I have a whole collection of these verses. 

The one she offers for this week is simply gorgeous.  It's simply designed with the most wonderful little flourishes.   

The sponsors this week are phenomenal and all are offering fabulous prizes for randomly selected participants.  I hope you'll head over to the Word Art Wednesday blog and then go to their stores so you can see all their goodies first hand.  

I'm using an image from one of the sponsors, Deedee's Digis, a delightful digi stamp company with the sweetest, family friendly, wholesome and whimsical images. 

As you can tell, I'm in the mood for spring. Missouri weather has been crazy.  Temperatures are all over the place from 60 one day to 20 or below the next day.   I'm so looking forward to watching everything thaw out and bloom!

I opted for putting this beautiful scripture on the inside of my card, right next to the note I'll write.  Again I'm using a mish-mash of things from my stash and loving it.  I'm committing this year to use up product already in my craftroom.  

Thank you for peeking in today.  May your day be filled with something springy to fill you with God's love and hope.  

Loving God

Oh, my goodness.   Remember that funny little quip from Alice in Wonderland, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get?"  That is so me right now.  I'm consistently running 2 days to a week or MORE behind!  Life is wonderfully full right now.  I recently started homeschooling my two new grandsons who arrived from the Philippines only 3 weeks ago. Oh, they are sweet and this is such a blessing to me.  At 8 and 10 they are the perfect teachable age for me, and I'm loving every minute of it.  After a career of teaching and school administration I feel like I can teach in my sleep.  Trouble is my body won't keep up with my enthusiasm!  We start each morning with Bible study...the ONLY place to start in my mind.  We give God the first and best part of our day.  And we are beginning at the beginning...creation!  So many wonderful things to learn.  But I hope their hearts will grasp primarily, the simple truth of our scripture challenge at Word Art Wednesday this week.  If I can invite them to love God, to trust Him and His Word, then I will feel like my mission in this endeavor has been accomplished.  I hope we learn lots of English, math, science, etc. too.  But learning to trust God is our priority.

I must say, since deciding to use up my plentiful stash (and that will take a long while), I've had so much fun mixing and matching what I have on hand.  I have so many delightful paper pads and embellishments, and had all but quit using them while promoting my own products through my digi business.  God has simply taken every single sad thought about closing my business and filled my days and my heart with wonderful delights.  I DO love my God and my heart's desire is to love Him more.

I think rather than commenting or filling this post with all my thoughts, I'll just leave you with these photos and encourage you to create from your own stash, then share with us at Word Art Wednesday. 

Thank you so much for blessing my day with YOU!

Word Art Wednesday: What Covers Sin?

When I was a young girl, and my father was still carpentering, I would sometimes go with him to the construction site.  My dad really was a craftsman and he and the other man who made up their crew could put a house up in a very short time.  They worked so hard.  I grew to love the process of building a home and I learned so many lessons from my dad on those occasions.  I learned that your word was your bond, you gave 100% to every task, and quality could not be compromised. When I was older, I had the privilege of doing some interior painting with my dad.  He owned some rental properties and we would go in and get the place cleaned up and painted.  So many times I was aghast at the condition renters would leave the place.  They left trash and destruction in their wake, often leaving without being up to date on payments.  I thought it was a hopeless task, but my dad would simply roll up his sleeves and get to work.  He taught me to paint...and often made the remark, "Paint covers a lot of sin!"  It was true.  A fresh coat of paint and a little cleaning often made a place look perfectly livable again.

  

Our scripture challenge at Word Art Wednesday this week is truly beautiful.  Love can cover up so much can't it?  There is so much hatred and strife in the world I'm often tempted to lose hope...like I did on those houses that were nearly destroyed.  Sometimes I think our world is on the brink of destruction.  But Jesus can cover it all!  Our world needs Jesus as never before.  We are seeing new and ever more frightening faces of evil in our world, but nothing is beyond God's control.  Our loving and sovereign Lord has a rein on all things.  Our job is to share the Gospel as far and as wide, in every place we go.  It is time to roll up our sleeves and be about Kingdom work.  There is so much to do!

Spreading the love of Christ seems like a daunting task when we have the whole world in our lens.  But we need to focus.  We begin in our families and neighborhoods and share who Christ is and the gift He offers.  If we cover our neighborhoods with His love and mercy, it will make a difference.  If all Christians took a stand, rolled up their sleeves and really focused on what our priority is, we would see a revival in our land.  I really believe that. 

The enemy seeks to destroy all that is good.  He has targeted our homes, families, churches.  We can never forget that love covers a lot of sin!  The Gospel of Christ is for a lost and dying world.  It is for those who are trapped by darkness and evil.  Christ can bring hope, healing and light to our world.  But He has called us to be the torch bearers.  He's asking us to go in to our world with the Truth of the Gospel and spread the story of His amazing love. 

There was so much satisfaction in seeing a home restored after Dad and I were finished with it. I was always amazed by the transformation.  There is no comparison to the joy in seeing a life transformed by the love of Christ...a sinner saved by grace.

There is hope in the midst of all the hatred and strife we see in our world.  Jesus can cover all sin, and can bring hope where all hope seems lost. 

Join us for Word Art Wednesday this week if you haven't already done so.  We'd love to see your inspirations.  You can use our verse now or later...but come along and share your projects with us.  I'm a little late sharing mine for this week, so there is still time before a new challenge goes up in a couple of days. 

Word Art Wednesday:

Our Word Art Wednesday challenge this week comes with a beautiful scripture, created by Karen Murry of Papercraft Memories.  It's pretty graphically but is also a beautiful reminder of our Good Shepherd's care for His flock.   As always our challenge is "anything goes" as long as your creation serves to honor God and/or encourage someone.  We of course would love for you to use this FREE DIGI graphic, but you are not required to do so.  

So many times when traveling in Ireland we encountered the most lush, fertile pastures where sheep grazed contentedly.  God truly paints a stunning picture for us in scripture comparing His children to sheep and showing how much He will care for us.  

I loved seeing the sheep while we were in Ireland.  This particular pasture is next to Tintern Abbey, near Wexford, one of my favorite places on the east coast of Ireland.  The sheep were enjoying safe pasture, ample provision--they were obviously well fed!  God provides for His own.  He will take care of you. 

My DT sample offers a simple rendition of the scripture.  I've recolored it to match the colors of the papers from My Heart Still Dances Digi Pack.  I love the coral-red, and turquoise-teal color combinations. 

I thought the rhinestone flourishes mirrored the swirling design in the papers and added just enough bling and the die-cut frame further echoed the other flourishes.   

One of the flexible features of digi papers that I most love, is the no-waste printing capability. You don't have to cut into a full sheet of designer paper.  You size your designer paper and print exactly what you need for your project. No waste.  I print mine on inexpensive cardstock (white or ivory), so there is a minimum cost to paper usage.    

Another feature that is so advantageous for digis is being able to match hues to recolor sentiments. Black sentiments can be converted to a virtually limitless array of colors in most photo editing program.  Microsoft Office Publisher allows for any recoloring.

We really hope you will join us at Word Art Wednesday and participate by linking your creation that fits the challenge criteria.  You'll want to go to our home blog to see the other designers' inspirations and to link your project.  See you there! 

Set Used:

 My Heart Still Dances Digi Paper Pack

12 resizable digi sheets / JPEG only / 300 dpi

$3.00

Related Sets: 

 My Heart Still Dances Color Set 1

7 color images, 11 color sentiments / JPEG and PNG / 300 dpi / resizable

$5.00

 My Heart Still Dances Color Set 2

7 color images, 11 color sentiments / JPEG and PNG / 300 dpi / resizable

$5.00

My Heart Still Dances Outline Images

4 outline images, 7 sentiments / JPEG and PNG / 300 dpi / resizable

$4.00

Thanks for blessings my day!

Diane