The Healing Love of God Journal - He loved me FIRST.

I have been struggling with some crazy emotions. At times I have intense feelings of sadness for no apparent reason, sometimes I am angry and at other times I feel anxious. I was just brushing them off as part of Peri-Menopause and simply endured them, waiting for them to pass. Of course there are physical symptoms also but once again I put it down to this strange time of life and just accepted it.

Recently during a bout of extreme sadness, the Spirit led me to stop, be still and listen. The Spirit began to challenge the way I was thinking. What if these negative feelings are actually your friends and are serving you by trying to communicate a problem that lies within? The problem being wounds of pain from the past ignored and left to grow and become toxic. What if my feelings were alerting me and bringing that pain forward to be healed instead of being ignored? What is the cure? The only cure for a broken heart is God's perfect love.

I decided they were all really good questions that needed exploring. So I decided to create a journal to seek God in a creative way. Healing flows from focussed creativity.

I wanted to share a sample of one of the pages with you today. This isn't the first page it is simply what the Spirit wanted to teach me today.

The ink colours I have used are Wisteria Wonder and So Saffron. I used a script stamp from the "Background Bits" stamp set.

The sketch is my own.

The flowers were first painted with gesso and once dry I applied ink with a brush.

I printed the sentiment from my computer.

I used a colour pencil to add some shading.

I began with the art work. In the process the Spirit gave me the title which became the subject of my learning today.

I then sat at my computer and journaled what I had learned as I was led by the Spirit.

I inked the page with So Saffron before adhering my art work on the opposite side of the journaling.

I am so excited and expectant about this journey of healing I am embarking on. I will be sharing more pages with you as I progress. I hope you will join me.

Our Daughter is Engaged!

We are so happy and excited to announce the engagement of our eldest daughter to the love of her life. So of course I had to create a card. As we wanted to give them a monetary gift I decided to create a card that had a pocket to hold it.

The ink colours I used were Tempting Turquoise and Smoky Slate.

I printed the sentiment from my computer.

I used a script stamp in the background from the "Background Bits" stamp set.

I created my patterned paper first. Here I have added some Silver embossing paste through a mask.

I dyed some gauze in Tempting Turquoise for the background.

I also used the Shimmery White embossing paste to hold some seed beads in place.

I used silver embossing powder to edge my paper.

I also created a charm using glass pearls and crystals.

The card has a silver ribbon closure.

On the inside of the card I have created a side pocket to hold some money.

The Bible verse and sentiment were printed from my computer before adding background colour.

The art work is a hand drawn image.

I have coloured it using inks as watercolour and colour pencils for shading.

I am pleased to say our daughter and future son in law loved the card as much as I did in creating it.

No Greater Love

Happy Valentines Day.

What a great day to celebrate love and most especially God's love for us.

The creation of this card was truly led by the Spirit. I had an idea of where I was going but it changed and evolved into a true demonstration of God's love.

He allowed His very heart to be nailed to the cross that we might live.

The ink colours I used are Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler. 

The cross has been die cut from the "Cross of Hope" Framelits Die Set. I embossed it using gold embossing powder.

The quote was printed from my computer.

I want to recreate this card into a larger canvas that I can see all the time to remind me of how dearly loved I am.

Beautiful Mistakes

Mistakes! Ugh!! As a creative person I'm really not a fan. Don't get me wrong, there are times I love mistakes, when they become creative opportunities.  Or when they work perseverance in me. But there are times no matter how long I persevere I always seem to end up with a mistake in my work I just can't do anything with. There is no covering it up. It is just there in all its glory.

The other day was just one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. I must have attempted this card at least four times but alas, just I had almost completed it, a nasty stray ink mark from my stamp block invaded my sentiment. So I ended up throwing it in my box to try again another day, putting it down to a lesson in perseverance.

However today I felt compelled to pull it out and actually mount it onto a card, not to give to someone but to give to me. It is to remind me that I am not infallible, to accept my mistakes, get over myself and to learn humility.

Mistakes not only build perseverance in us but also the beauty of humility.

I have used Elegant Eggplant and Soft Sky Stampin'Up! inks. The stamp sets are "Beautiful Peacock" and "Lovely Wishes".

I have used masking techniques throughout playing around with ink intensity.

There is that mistake! Some parts of the peacock didn't stamp solidly so I touched up those areas with the basic black Stampin' Write marker.

I really do want to try this design again perhaps in a different colour way, and, minus the mistakes!

Let Your Light Shine - Tag Card

I wanted to experiment with Mat Gel Medium and my inks, so I decided to add texture with some tissue paper.

I have used Crushed Curry and Marina Mist inks and the "Beautiful Peacock" stamp set.

I have typed the sentiment on my computer.

After inking the background I applied wrinkled tissue paper over the top using Mat Gel Medium. I added more ink over the top of the Medium.

I used gold embossing powder on the background and along the edges.

The tag is removable.

I used silk ribbon and gold thread to embellish the tail of the peacock.

The Bible verse was printed from my computer.

I love the texture the Mat Gel Medium allowed me to achieve on this card.

It's All Perspective

A bunch of various hardware items may be seen by some as serving a practical use, by some as tools of their trade, by some as completely insignificant..

...but by some of us - creative potential...

As I was pondering the creative potential of hardware, I couldn't help but..

"Consider God's perspective..who looked at the dust and saw a human being."

I used the hinge to create a door. Inside the door...

"Gold is always found underneath the surface"

I was also challenged during the creation of this piece to broaden my perspective of people.

I have used Plasterboard Jointing Tape, Masking Tape and coarse sandpaper in the background.

The substrate is a piece of 12" x 12" box board cut in half and joined together.

The colour was achieved using Stampin'Up! inks.

I have used bolt cutters to cut the ends off the screws and glued them in place. I used the ends in the metal collage.

 I have added some gold embossing powder to the quote and antique gold charms.

I am looking forward to recreating this project on a smaller scale for a card.

You're Awesome - Ink and Brushos

Our youngest son has just recently reached his first savings goal by working hard over the school holidays in his new job. So I decided to make him a card recognising his efforts and to let him know how proud we are of him.

The stamp set is called "Epic Celebrations". The ink colours are Cajun Craze and Old Olive. I have also used Brushos Moss Green. The paper is ordinary copier paper.

I prepared my background papers first with ink and texture. I will be doing a tutorial on this technique later.

I used Brushos on the sentiment and headphones. I will be showing this technique in a later tutorial. I also sprinkled it over the background.

I dyed some gauze to add some further embellishment.

I prepared a liner on my computer and inked the edges.

I discovered a couple of new techniques creating this card. I am hoping to share them with you soon by way of tutorials. Stay tuned for that.