Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, The Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wondered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen
Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

No church services for us tonight as Tim could not preach. Thanks to those of you who have been praying for Tim and his throat.  Keep praying so he can preach on Sunday!

As warm as it has been, I told Tim yesterday that the flowers would probably begin sprouting.  I went to the mail box and spotted these coming up.  I don't know if they are tulips or daffodils!  I guess we shall see (at least I hope they don't get frost bitten now that they are up this far!).
Here's a picture of the ominous looking sky that was moving into our area from the west this evening.  The wind sure blew!  And, when it rained at one point it POORED and blew in around the chimney and ran down the wall in my craft room, so I had to move some books.  It has done that before and one of the men at church did some patching, so it either needs to be patched again or it just blew in at a weird angle.
 Here's another page I finished today.  I did the painting yesterday and put the butterflies on today.  I cut Kara out of a photo where she was standing by the ocean holding her hands out.  Jessica saw the quote on facebook and said it reminded her of this picture of Kara and I agreed, so there ya go!
 I worked on this one tonight since we didn't have church.  I hate my handwriting, so I decided to try something different.  I used a photoshop brush of Cilenia Curtis' for the morning glories and printed it out backwards and then placed it on my painted background and transferred the black outline by rubbing it onto the page.  I did the same thing with the title and the poem.  It took a lot of elbow grease, but I think it turned out nicely.  I painted the morning glories and vine and the background with acrylic paint.
 So tomorrow is our thrift store day!  Can't wait since I haven't been in 2 weeks!  :D  PLUS I'm ready to eat out, too!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Today is mom's birthday.  She would've been 79.  Miss her so much!  Hard to believe that she has been gone for 7 1/2 years.  The Lord was merciful when He took her on home to heaven. 

Today's Project Life 365 prompt is RED!  RED is my favorite color!  So this one was fairly easy!  Here I am sitting in "my" chair in the dining/living room.  I usually don't do much work on my laptop here at the house.  I bought it specifically for working on in the car while traveling.  But, while I was sick last week, this is where I sat (when I wasn't sleeping in bed) during the day and I got used to it!  The red housecoat I am wearing was a gift from Tim's mom for Christmas last year.  It is soooooooo snuggly cozy and soft!  LOVE it!
Speaking of sickness, pray for Tim.  His throat was doing really well during this cold.....til Sunday.  During the sermon Sunday evening, he could tell his throat was getting sorer.  By the next morning, he could hardly talk.  He has been coughing, too.  So, you know that aggravates it.  Anyway, he will not be able to preach tomorrow night and has someone ready to take over.

Remember on Sunday I mentioned I was working on a special page in my art journal?    I started it later that night before going to bed.  I added molding paste for snow on the tree and under the word "delightful" so it kept me from finishing it until that dried.  After it dried, I decided I needed to touch it up with white acrylic paint.  I did the words tonight with various stencils I got at Dollar Tree many, many years ago!  I love this photo of Kara.  She has such a DELIGHTFUL smile!

I finished up 3 baby gifts this week.  I'll post pictures of those Sunday evening, if I don't forget.  I don't want to do it until after we give the shower gifts to the mommy-to-be on Sunday.  I hand-made a baby card for her, too, so I'll show you pictures of that.

OK, I think I'll do some reading before going to bed.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

I KNEW I should've checked the Project Life 365 blog earlier today for the prompts, because it might have something listed I would need to take a picture of outside.  Sure enough, here's this week's prompts, including today's that I missed:

SUN – JAN 27th: #OUTSIDE
MON – JAN 28th: #INSIDE
TUES – JAN 29th: #RED
WED – JAN 30th: #INNOCENT
THURS – JAN 31st: #GROW
FRI – FEB 1st: #YOU_TODAY
SAT – FEB 2nd: #REPETITION

So, this will give you an idea of what to look forward to this week!

Well, I am FINALLY better!  NO MORE getting sick after I eat!  I guess heartburn doesn't count, however!  Today started out rather lightheaded!  Probably from the very little food I've had since last Tuesday!  Can I just say that I lost 12 lbs. in 5 days last week!  No wonder I was lightheaded when I got up this morning!  So, I drank some orange juice and had a banana!  NO upset stomach!!  WOOHOO!  Then I ate a bowl of vegetable soup and cornbread for lunch.  NO upset stomach!  WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!  THEN I had a BBQ sandwich and mac n cheese for dinner before church!  NO upset stomach!!  HOWEVER, the BBQ did give me heartburn!  So, I'm sipping on a canned coke and the carbonation is helping me to burp!  So, hopefully that will help!  YAY!!!

I started working on another art journaling page last night.  This one is a little different as it includes a picture.  But I added some molding paste to it for snow and now I have to wait for that to dry before I can finish the page!  It's a secret who the picture is of, but hopefully I will get the page finished on Tuesday.  Monday is going to be busy, so I already know I won't get it finished then.

Speaking of Monday, I will be rising early with Tim (I've already taken my pm's so I can get to bed earlier), as long as he remembers to get me up when he does.  I need to clean up the kitchen of the dishes that have been piling up as I've been a slacker the last several days with just not feeling up to par.  Anyway, no more excuses!  Gotta get that done so I can go to the store to pick up a few items to cook some yummy veggie soup and corn bread for the Parks.  Please remember the Parks family in your prayers when you think of it as Bro. Parks (the former pastor of our church) has been turned over to hospice care.  His health has been failing alot this year!  If he lives 10 more days, he will turn 91.  

Also, tomorrow Tim and I will be attending a preacher's fellowship here in North Carolina and that will last the entire afternoon and into the evening.  I'm glad we don't have to travel very far this time!

OK, I've got my Luke study to work on so I can get it done before bedtime, which is slipping up pretty soon since I am going to bed earlier tonight.  Hopefully these pms will kick in sooner than later!  :D

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thursday, January 24, 2013

I've lost a couple of days with sickness.  Stomach cramps, "D" and a SEVERE headache!  I have slept most of  Tuesday and Wednesday, and even tho I took some tylenol pms, I am WIDE awake at 12:15 a.m.  And unless I am feeling MUCH better, I won't be going to the thrift stores with Tim later on today.  He plans to go see Bro. Parks in the morning.  Bro. Parks has not been feeling well lately.  He is the former pastor and has really gone down hill health-wise over the last year.  Pray for him as the Lord brings him to your remembrance.  He will turn 91 in February, I believe.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

Happy Monday!

Today's Project Life 365 Prompt is DREAM
For this prompt, I did a digital art journal page using a quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame!

I used Cilenia Curtis' new Color Play 6 portions at Scrap Art Studio. I also used some brushes from her Artist's Toolbox #10. Here are the links to all the products I used:
Artist's Toolbox #10: http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/i...roducts_id=911
Blue Ice Elements: http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/i...oducts_id=1357
Blue Ice Artsy Solid Papers: http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/i...oducts_id=1358
Blue Ice Mini Kit 1: http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/i...oducts_id=1359
Blue Ice Mini Kit 2: http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/i...oducts_id=1360


 2012 Books Read:

 Shadow of the Almighty
The Devil in Pew Number Seven
From Victim to Victory
Tortured for Christ
There is a Season
 Papa's Wife
Papa's Daughter
Mama's Way
Dear Papa
This is My Life
Then There Grew Up a Generation
The Golden Acre
 Left Behind Series:
1.  Left Behind
2.  Tribulation Force
3.  Nicolae
4.  Soul Harvest
5.  Apollyon
6.  Assassins
7.  The Indwelling
8.  The Mark
9.  Desecration
10.  The Remnant
11.  Armageddon
12.  Glorious Appearing
Hadassah
Storekeeper's Daughter
Little Women
Robinson Crusoe
Follow the River

I also read a few electronically and there was another one I read (a Christmas present from a church member last year, which I gave back to her after reading it so she could read it again) but I don't remember the name of it.


Now, I'll share some photos from the weekend with the family:

Gave Kara her pillow pallet when they arrived on Friday.
Abigail always has to "try on" the toys for size!  :D  I also have a picture of her and one of Thad, too, sitting in a little wooden high chair.
 Ryan offered to help me several times in the kitchen.  Here, I opened the dish towel drawer and put the cinnamon bread loaf pan in it so it would be low enough for him to sprinkle on the topping.
 Abigail is almost 7 months older than Thad, but he is the same size as her.  She calls him, "baby" LOL!
 
 Liz brought a portable ping pong table and that was lots of fun for those who wanted to play.
 On Saturday, the "boys" and the "girls and baby boys" split up.  The boys went to the shooting range, while we went shopping, etc.  First stop was the mall play area for the kids.
 Right next to the play area was a pet store.  Here Chance is petting the baby rabbits.
  This is a picture of Kara and Hannah drawing before we left for shopping.
 After the Mall and lunch, Jessica Day and Liz went to some more stores while Jessica and I took the kids to the Thom A Lex park to feed the ducks and play in the playground area.
 Happy faces.

 We tried to gather them all around this vehicle.  I didn't get a good shot, but at least they are all here, except Michael who didn't want to come with us for some reason.
  Abigail started feeling bad later on in the evening.  Michael held and rocked her to sleep.
Sunday morning.  Jessica wanted a family photo.  Tim was taking pictures with her camera to the left of me, so Jessica was looking at him.  Good photo!
 Making a mess in the nursery before church starts.
 It's a good thing our family was in the services with us today.  Our group was bigger than the group of church members that was there!  I took Ryan, Hannah, Kara and Michael to my SS class.  That is always such a joy to spend time teaching my grandchildren lessons from the Bible!
 A group photo before everyone packed up to head home around 2 p.m.  Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of family!
 A shot of Michael's beautiful family.  I didn't realize until later that we didn't get a group shot of Liz's family.  RATS!
 Poor little Abigail not feeling well and running a fever....waiting patiently for mommy to get packed up so they could go home.  I hope we are all blessed with NOT coming down with whatever sickness Terry and Abigail had!  Thad ran a fever on the way home, too!

Thank You, Lord, for giving us a few beautiful days together!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Well, the party is over!  Everyone left around 2 p.m. this afternoon!  Everything that was scattered throughout the house (toys, towels, bed clothing) is now in the laundry.....to be sorted through and washed as necessary.  But, that will happen tomorrow!  I got a load of towels washed, but they are still in the washing machine.  Tim and I got ready to eat dinner and I realized I had not run the dishwasher which was FULL, plumb FULL of forks and plates!  So, I ran the dishwasher after church.  Tomorrow..............

As usual, it was a BUSY weekend, full of activity!  Michael and Jessica and Kara arrived around 5:00 on Friday.  Elisabeth, Hannah, Ryan and Abigail arrived somewhere around 5:30.  I had been cooking a beef roast with potatoes and carrots ALL DAY LONG, so when Liz got here, we got ready to eat!  YUM!  The left over roast was saved for BBQ.

Jessica, Terry, Michael, Chance and Thad arrived around 11:15.  Everyone else was already in bed and I helped Jessica carry in all the stuff while Terry sat with the babies.....he was feverish and chilling badly!  After some Nyquil and rest, he felt better on Saturday.

Saturday, the "boys" loaded up and went to the shooting range after a breakfast of donuts, cereal, fruit and juice.  The "girls" (and baby boys) headed out shopping.  The boys had to wait in line FOREVER at the shooting range!  The girls headed to the mall and the play area for the kids.  Then the kids enjoyed the pet store.  Next was lunch in the food court (don't think I ever heard where the boys ate lunch).

On the way back to the house after lunch, Jessica and I stopped at Walmart to get some cheerios for feeding the ducks at the park.  So, Jessica and I took the kids to the park (except for Michael, who didn't want to go) and Liz and Jessica Day went shopping more.  The guys hung out at the house.  Terry napped as he still was not feeling great.  Tim, Michael and little Michael played ping pong and did some computing and Tim did some office work.

The kids had great fun feeding the ducks and geese at the park.  Then they played on the playground for quite awhile.  Before leaving, Jessica took some group photos and we took a short walk.  Here is my FAVORITE picture of the weekend (which you saw yesterday, too).....just wish little Michael had been in the photo, too!  Aren't those just the most beautiful and precious faces you've ever seen?!  :D


Well, I was wrong about the Project Life 365 project not having a Sunday prompt.  I just missed it somehow.  Anyway, I do have today's prompt.....CURRENTLY READING.....I've got very few pages left to read in this book, but I just can't get into it.....I think this book could've been skipped and the 11th book in the series, Armageddon, should have completed the series with the Glorious Appearing of Christ after the Tribulation period.  Anyway, here's the book........


Speaking of books.....if you recall, my goal for last year was to read 12 books, one book a month, last year.  Well, I surpassed that number, I am happy to report!  I'll give you the list tomorrow!  I think my favorite read for the year would have to be the Left Behind series.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Today's Project Life 365 prompt is STYLE
I call this my GRANDMA STYLE!!!  LOVE that style!!!


Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday, January 18, 2013

My Project Life 365 prompt for today is NEWS!  I have some GREAT NEWS!!!  3 out of 4 of our children are/will be here this weekend with us, including their families!  The oldest is still traveling and won't be here til around midnight!  LOVE our family get-togethers!  I'll wait and post some pictures after they leave.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The weather has been frightful here today!  RAIN, rain and MORE rain!  It even thundered a little bit ago!  That was weird!  And, it was blowing rain, at that!  My little dollar store umbrella bit the dust first thing this morning, too!  BUT, I now have a HUGE Totes umbrella!  It is the kind that works like a sail on a sailboat, LOL!  I know because I thought it was going to carry me away a couple of times today!  :D

We started out earlier today because we had an extra errand to run.  We left at 9 a.m. and went about 20 miles north on 52 to King to the Goodwill and then came back south to University Parkway and ate at IHOP for breakfast (THANKS again to Sharon and Calvin and Joy and Bobby!).  Then we went to the Christian Bookstore to pick up this year's VBS Sampler pack.  Then on to the Goodwill on University Parkway near downtown.  Then we headed to our usual 3 stops and got home around 1:30.  Tim ate lunch (I was still full from breakfast). 

At 3 p.m. I left to pick up Lois who had food for Sharon and Calvin for today and on the way back to her house I took her to Foodlion for some groceries.  It was about 4:30 when I got back to the house.  Then, Tim and I went to Pizza Hut for supper.  And, FINALLY, the last stop of the day.....Walmart!  The shelves were getting pretty bare because of the WINTER WEATHER advisory of 4-8" of snow over night.  (If the rain we have had just today had been snow.............well, I don't even want to think about it!)

We haul the groceries into the house and Tim goes out for the last load while I started putting things away.  And that brings me to today's Project Life 365 prompt.....THIS IS SO ME...................

The 2 gallons of milk we bought quickly turned into 1 1/2 gallons!  This gallon shown in the picture was sitting close enough to the edge of the dishwasher that when my purse fell over against it, the gallon of milk went crashing EXPLOSIVELY to the floor!  At least I was in my right mind enough to pick the jug up in such a way as to save about half of it!  Not a big deal, however!  Tomorrow I was planning to sweep and mop the floors anyway because of all the rain and mess that has been tracked in this week!  Now I can add milk to the mess!  :D

YES, this is so me in the kitchen!  Just ask the kids or Tim............if I'm not burning the green beans (or whatever I'm cooking), I'm making messes like this, LOL!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

It has been another dreary, cold, rainy day!  We even have snow in the forecast!  LOTS of snow predicted for the mountains.....those same mountains that are between us and our girls who are planning on coming to our house on Friday!  YIKES!  Travel safely and make sure you have wraps in the car in case (heaven forbid) you get stuck along the road!

OK, enough of the dreary news!  No art journal pages to show you today, but I do have some wintery type pictures for you as today's Project Life 365 prompt was Sign of Winter.  The first picture shows me wearing a sweatshirt and covered with a quilt while I knit on Tim's sweater (knitting being a wintertime activity, for the most part).  The second photo is an obvious give-away of a leafless tree which tells everyone it is winter!  Some things just don't change!  :D  Too bad there wasn't a nice, bright, beautiful red cardinal sitting amongst those naked branches!  Maybe another day!



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Can you believe that half of January is over already??  Before you know it we will be buying Christmas gifts again!  :D

OK, I finished the art journaling page I started yesterday.  I added a tag in the bottom left hand corner with the verse written on it - Psalm 84:11 No good thing will He withhold from me if I walk uprightly!  (I made it personal!)  And, I decided it was colorful enough and that I didn't need to actually create a rainbow.....the colors will be the rainbow!  I also added a few stamps.  One says "so thankful" and the other one says "be happy" which I can't really see anywhere in this photo.

Today started out with a headache, which is really nothing new, except that I've had a headache off and on for the past 4 or 5 days because of the dreary weather, I am sure!  But, if I can happen to do some coughing or sneezing, it makes my nose run and that loosens up the sinuses.   So, while I was packing up my yarn into the plastic totes that I washed last night, and running them all downstairs, my nose started to drip.  So, by the time I finished hauling 8 totes and a file cabinet to the basement, my headache was gone!  :D

Then I ate lunch (a bowl of cereal) and checked my e-mail, etc.   Then I made some cookies for the men's meeting tonight.  Then I fixed supper for Sharon and took that to her at 3:30.  Came back home and then fixed our supper.  Cleaned up the kitchen and sat down to work on my Project Life 365 for the day, which I decided would be an art journaling page to depict today's prompt.  It's kinda confusing, but can you guess what the prompt is by looking at the page?  LOL!

I know it is kinda hard to tell what is on the right side, except that I have written "Tower of Babel" on the bottom of the tower.  I did not finish the top layer of the tower to indicate that it wasn't finished because the Lord "confused" the language of the people.  Here's what my paraphrase of Genesis 11 says under the tower:

"The whole earth spoke one language.  They settled in Shinar.  They made brick and began building a city, and a tower that would reach heaven.  They wanted to make a name for themselves and never move.  But the Lord wanted them to inhabit the whole earth, so He confused their language so they could not understand one another to build the tower.  So, in this manner the Lord scattered the people across the earth."


Monday, January 14, 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013

YAY!!!  Sharon, our pianist at church got to go home today!  We saw her this morning while she was waiting on the doctor to release her!  She and Calvin had been waiting for 2 hours when we got there!  So, I don't know what time she finally got home, but I am sure she will feel so much better being able to sleep in her own bed!  Praise the Lord for answered prayer on her part!

Tim and I got some groceries on the way home, but since Sharon got to go home, I needed to go back out and pick up some food to fix for her for tomorrow.  I also needed to go to Aldi for some groceries for this coming weekend, too, with the kids (hopefully) coming.....if everyone gets well!

Today, I dragged a bunch of plastic totes up from the basement so I could store my yarn in them.  They were nasty dirty, so I gave them all a bath in the tub!  And before I put the yarn in them, I want to make sure they are TOTALLY dry!  I don't want any molding going on!  So, I've got totes and lids strung all over the dining/living room!

The day really zipped by and I didn't get nearly as much work done as I had planned on doing!  Plus, I had some inspiration for an art journal spread that I wanted to do sometime tonight.  That being said, after dinner tonight, I was TEMPTED to let the dishes wait until tomorrow and work on my art instead!  HOWEVER, I did not!  I was a good girl and got the kitchen cleaned up and the dishwasher loaded THEN I started playing!

That brings me to today's Project Life 365 prompt.....TEMPTATION!  Imagine that!  :D


This spread has been fun!  So far, I have used lots of spraying and stencils.  I'll have to make sure I use a flash when I take a picture of the final product as the colors are so pretty!  I got the inspiration from a conversation on facebook with a girl who lives is stationed in England with her Army husband.  We were talking about the scripture verse I posted (Psalm 84:11) and she said "As I was looking up quotes about rainbows yesterday (for another project) I came across this one... "May I never miss a rainbow or sunset because I am looking down"... seems to fit with the reminder to walk upright - both literally and figuratively... after all, the rainbow is a reminder that God does keep His promises!"  I told her I really liked that and that it had inspired me to do this page I am working on!  THANKS, Molly!

Somehow I've got to work a rainbow onto the page and I want to put a girl on the page, too.  I'll show it to you, of course, when I get it done!  I'm calling it quits for tonight, however.  Got some work to do on a Bible study I am leading in a facebook group! 






Sunday, January 13, 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

No Project Life 365 prompt today, so I took a photo of an art journal spread I did with inspiration from something Tim said in his sermon today.  The black represents the sin in our lives.  And right in the center of our hearts, that are desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) is a bomb of sin just waiting to explode!  The only control over the sin (the explosion) is for it to be deactivated.  Jesus is the only One who can deactivate that bomb!  John 5:24 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He changes our direction.  But, we still have to be on guard that we don't allow Satan to keep our sin fuse lit!  That doesn't happen when we allow God to be in control of our lives!


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Saturday, January 12, 2013

I almost forgot to do my post today!  Been busy with laundry, cleaning the man bathroom, shopped for a few groceries and yarn, finishing up SS lesson, etc, etc.

Today's Project Life 365 prompt was MINI.  As I looked around for the MINI that I would share with you, I found an item I made years ago and can't bear to part with, even tho some of the grandkids have lost a few of the pieces!  So, anyone remember this little item?  I took the picture holding it in my hand so those who read this blog and who have probably never seen it will get an idea of just how small this is.  Each of the animals, along with the ark were cut out with a scroll saw.  There are 3 layers of the ark - the back, the front and the center section which is cut out to house the animals.  The animals I still have left are a camel, rhino, sheep, giraffe, snake (talk about fun to cut out!), elephant, bear and hippo.  I don't even remember what animals are missing, but a couple are, I believe, because when they were all here, it was a snug fit and the animals had to be arranged just so so to fit.


I mentioned I bought some yarn today.  Tim has been looking for a cardigan sweater at the thrift shops, but hasn't been able to find any, or the ones he has found, he hasn't liked.  So, I decided I would make him one.  So, I did a search on the internet and decided this was the one I liked the best.  Tim liked it, too!  The next step was to find yarn.  I have tons of yarn, but none that would make a nice manly sweater, or not enough of the same kind to make a man's sweater.  This sweater is from the Lion's Brand of yarn web site, so I found a substitute yarn because the one the sweater in the photo is made from was a knobby type of yarn that Tim did not like, went to AC Moore and found the yarn on sale for 2/$7 (normally $5.99 each, I believe!)!  I'm tweaking the pattern a bit (not doing a ribbed bottom edge) and have started the sweater.  I'll be sure and have Tim model it for you!  :D  But don't hold your breath until I get it posted!  With the kids coming for our Christmas get-together this coming weekend, I won't be working on it too much this week!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday already?  What a zippity do dah of a week!  Tomorrow is laundry day and cleaning the man's bathroom for me.....and then the week begins all over again!  What will you be doing tomorrow?

Today's Project Life 365 prompt is SIGNATURE.  I wrote my signature on a piece of paper and then realized that is definitely NOT something I wanted to post for the world to see!  So, instead I took a picture of the paper I signed, LOL!

I also took a picture of the art journaling page I had started a few days ago that I told you I would post a picture of.  I finished it last night and it is below.  Below it I give a brief description of how I "created" it.

For those of you who know that our pianist had open heart surgery this week to repair two valves, we saw her this morning again and she is doing GREAT!  She was moved to a regular room late Wednesday (her surgery was Tuesday, mind you!).  The Lord has answered prayer on her behalf just so marvelously!  Praise His name!  She will probably get to go home on Sunday!  I guess we will still have to sing acapella for a while, however!  But, knowing Sharon, I would almost bet she will be playing that piano a week from Sunday!



So, here are the steps to doing this spread:
1.  Brushed the blue on, leaving a space for the yellow.  Dried it with a heat gun.
2.  Finger painted the yellow in, overlapping the blue on the edges.  Dried it with a heat gun.
3.  Used Molding Paste to create the cross.  Left it all to dry over night.
4.  Painted the heart. Dried it with a heat gun.
5.  Added the stenciling of the verse in red.
6.  Added the white stenciling.
7.  Wrote (with fine permanent marker) the words around the cross and all the other black writing.
8.  Traced around some of the white stenciling on the yellow to define it and make it more visible.
9.  Stamped the hearts around the cross.
10.Final step, sprayed the whole thing with Krylon Matte finish to set it.

Products used:
Acrylic paint (steps 1, 2, 4)
Molding paste (step 3)
Dylusion Alpha stencil (step 5)
Crafters Workshop stencil (step 6)
Sharpie permanent marker (step 7)
2H graphite pencil (step 8)
Studio stamps and ink pad (step 9)
Krylon Matte finishing spray (step 10)


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Today, as you probably know by now, was thrift store day!  We see new things every week.  Some of them we need/want, most of them you do not need/want.  Today we were able to find the "Left Behind" series for kids.  The set had #1-16, but was missing #2, unfortunately!  Plus, I need to check on Amazon, but I am thinking there are even more than 16.  So, I'll have to keep my eyes open for #2, at least!  If I find it after Michael takes them home next week, I'll mail it to him.

We also found a small baby doll for our little Miss Abigail.  And, we also found a little swimmer's life vest type thingie (meaning it isn't exactly a vest).

Today's Project Life 365 prompt was GAME.  Tim doesn't like to play games, so I play on line word games with facebook friends/family and I also play a Scrabble type of game with my sister, Kim (Lexulous).  I get TONS of requests to play TONS of facebook games, but the ONLY one I will play is Word With Friends.  It is a Scrabble type of game, too.  Right now I am playing a game with little Michael.  So, I made a print screen of that game for my post today.

We enjoyed Subway sandwiches for lunch today as we had a buy one 6" get one 6" sub free!  For dinner tonight we enjoyed Olive Garden as we had received a gift card from Sharon and Calvin and Joy and Bobby from church!  THANKS BUNCHES!!!


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Warm but cloudy and we got rain late afternoon to early eveningish.  But it had stopped by church time.

I worked on getting my craft room organized and cleaning up the kitchen today and made up my work sheets to go along with my Bible Club lesson tonight.

Today's prompt for the Project Life 365 photo is drawer.  Well, since I have been organizing my craft room, I decided to take a picture of the drawer that now houses my new stamps, spray inks and ink pads and acrylic paints.  I'm having lots of fun getting back into some painting projects.  I think I will work on a spread in my art journal that I made.  I've got a couple of verses I want to depict on the pages of my journal!  I'll show them to you tomorrow!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Praising the Lord today for bringing our piano player, Sharon Russell, through open heart surgery with no complications!  She had 2 valve repairs (sounds like working on an car, doesn't it?).  She may feel like she has been hit by a car for sometime, but hopefully she will have no more problems the rest of her life!  The verse on my perpetual calendar for the day reads, "O taste and see that the Lord is good."  Psalm 34:8  And all I have to say to that is, AMEN!!!

Today's prompt for the Project Life 365 photo is Front Door.  So, be it ever so humble, here it is!  Really, though, no one but Tim and I use this door.  We use it to go to the mail box and I use it to change the church sign.....or to take this picture or pictures of my flowers when they are in bloom.  But, everyone that drives past the house has the potential of seeing this door.  And since we are representatives of the King of Kings, I like for it to look nice.  Hence, the wreath.  I used to have a grapevine wreath hanging there but I got tired of it.  And when I found this wreath at the thrift store for $1 (even though I originally had other intentions for the flowers on it) I bought it and hung it here.  Originally I was going to take the flowers off and use them on my canvas projects.  But I decided it was too nice to tear up and the flowers are so cheery and welcoming, too!

Taking this picture of the door reminded me of a VBS chorus that we usually sing:

One Door and only one
And, yet it's sides are two.
Inside and outside, on which side are you?

One Door and only one
And, yet it's sides are two.
I'm on the inside, on which side are you?

Jesus tells us that He is the Door that leads to eternal life!  It is only through Him that we will enter into the door of heaven!

Here's a cute Youtube video of the Cedarmont Kids singing and they added a couple of verses I have not heard before.


OK, here's a bonus photo.....a close up of my beautiful, dirt-cheap wreath!  Don't you just LOVE those colors together?!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Monday, January 7, 2013

Not too much going on today.  The sun is simply beautiful and feels warm when standing in it!  But, it is cool outside!  I worked on the church sign and it was definitely nicer working on the side that has the southern exposure!  :D

I got wind, via facebook probably, of a Project Life 365 blog that gives prompts for daily photos.  So, I'm late in joining in on the party, but I'm going to give it a shot!  Let's hope it goes better than my JUNK 365 project last year, LOL!

So, today's prompt is SIMPLICITY.  I tried to think of something that would represent this word and almost gave up, until I started writing this post!  Then it hit me!  My photo for today represents SIMPLY enjoying the WARM SUNSHINE on my shoulders!  I've got the perfect song to go with it and a beautiful Youtube video!  Enjoy!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a day that I could give you
I'd give to you a day just like today
If I had a song that I could sing for you
I'd sing a song to make you feel this way

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a tale that I could tell you
I'd tell a tale sure to make you smile
If I had a wish that I could wish for you
I'd make a wish for sunshine all the while

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high
Sunshine almost all the time makes me high
Sunshine almost always

Words by John Denver, Music by John Denver, Dick Kniss and Mike Taylor

Here's a very nice Youtube video someone put together with photos and John Denver singing this song.