Cultural Arts

Good morning y'all!!!     This is a blessed and happy day before each one of us.   What are we gonna do with today?     Well, for me, I thought I would share a bit of it with y'all by sharing a bit of yesterday, today.    ggg    Yesterday was another sweltering hot day.    You know what I'm talking about.    One of those days where the use of a curling iron or a flat iron is a waste of good electricity!    Oh yes, you've been there!    When you work and work and work to get your hair just like you want it only to go outside into the humidity and it causes your hair to pop up all over your head, some of looks like ink pen springs, some of it looks just like the cow licks on your head that you worked so hard to get tamed, and then still more of it just doesn't even look like your hair at all!    And then you get to thinking, I just don't remember fixin' "that" head of hair.    hahaha    I have come to the conclusion that on days like yesterday, I'm just gonna take a spray bottle with water in it and instead of styling my hair before I go out, I'll just spray it with water, sling my head around till it looks like my head has been in a tornado and hit the door with my sloppy, tousled hair and head held high.    Then when people look at me funny, I'll politely say, "Yes, I sure did mean to leave the house with my hair looking like this, really, I did."     Otherwise, there's no excuse for my hair looking like it did yesterday!!!    hahahaha    Oh well, what are ya gonna do?    I'm just happy I have a head of hair.   I just might have to start wearing my fedora hat that I got at the Dollar Tree here back.    We'll see.      Anyway.......

Yesterday was Cultural Arts Day and Taste and Tell Day for the FCE groups in Robertson County.    June is Dairy Month and all the dishes had to have a dairy product in them.    For the taste and tell, everything is cut, sliced, served in bite size portions.     You also receive a cookbook with all the recipes in it.    It is fun, and when you finally get through the line and sat down, your plate is rounded with single bites of all this delicious food.    It is really fun.    There is always a bunch of 4-H'ers there also serving water or milk to drink.   They are really nice and polite kids, the future of our county.    There used to be many more people that would show up, but as with all things, there are a lot of other things competing with our time, so hopefully, at some point in time, people will start coming back to the Cultural Arts and Taste and Tell day.

For the Cultural Arts side of it, everyone brings their items to enter and one of the county groups will be in charge of getting everything displayed and then the judges will look at all the items and rank them 1st or 2nd place and then everyone gets participation ribbons for the items that doesn't place.    I entered 7 items this time.    I ended up with 4-1st (blue) place, 1-2nd (red) place and then 2 (green) participation ribbons.    I took pics while at the event.    My pics are not great at all.    So after I got home, I took some better pics, still not all that great, though.    hahaha

The crocheted purple ombre scarf was mine, and it got a green participation ribbon.    As well, it should have, because there was some beautiful baby blankets that won, and they should have won.

Ok y'all, you remember how excited I was to share my first ever oil painting with y'all, it won 1st place.    Everyone loved it. 

This is my Crucifixion Diorama that I made at Easter with a file from Doodling Deb.    It won 1st place in Holiday Decorations.     Some of the ladies said that the judges wanted to give it 2 blue ribbons.    I said, "hey, gimme my other ribbon!"   hahahaha    After the judging took place and people started coming in to eat and sample the food, there was quite a few smaller children there, around 4 to 6 years of age.    Their moms let them look but not touch.    I just so happened to look up at the tables where the items were displayed, and the diorama was at the perfect level for the children to look into and see it.    I heard some of the kids saying, "Hey, come here, (to their buddies) you can see Jesus in this one, Jesus is here, Jesus is on the cross, come, see!"    I almost started crying at the sheer excitement of the children seeing Jesus on the cross.    One of the little fellers stood there for the longest time, elbows on the table, and his head resting in his hands, just staring into the diorama, looking at Jesus.    I would really love to know what was going through his little mind.    I do believe he was contemplating what he has learned in Sunday School about Jesus.

This is of my color photo, but it's not a good shot.      Sorry.

Neither is this one of my black and white.    They both won 1st place.

This is my little dog wood sculpture, and it won 2nd place.

This is a better shot of what I entered.   My oil painting and blue ribbon, in front of that is my wood beaded necklace with a green ribbon, beside that is my dogwood sculpture with a red ribbon and then purple ombre scarf with a green ribbon.

This is my Crucifixion Diorama with the blue ribbon.    Thanks Debbie!!!!!

This is my color photo.   This is of the ice storm from March of this year.    I called this "Frozen Fireworks" because that's what it looks like to me.

This is my black and white photo and it was made the same time as the color photo.     I called this one "Fat Bird".    hahaha    He was so fat, I don't know how he sat on the fence.     But you, my little feathered friend, garnered me a blue ribbon.   Thanks, little birdie!

That was a little bit of my day yesterday.    It was really fun and then to put icing on the cake, one of my friends called and we got together for a bit and a bite at Burdette's Tea Room.    Perfect end to a perfect day, all except the hair deal.    hahahaha

Matthew 6:33 says:   "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

These were words straight from the Masters mouth.    Jesus spoke these words to His disciples at the same time He spoke about the Beatitudes starting in Chapter 5.    He had spoken to them about various things from the Beatitudes to this point here.    He was teaching them about "worry" now.  

Do you have an issue with worry?    I have to be the first one to pop my hand up in the air, because I worry!    I have to go back every once in a while and check myself about the worry condition.    I try not to, and when I find myself blatantly worrying about something, I try to stop it, drop it, and roll on along with good thoughts and prayer.    You noticed I used a terminology that fire fighters use in teaching people how to put out fires that may be on their clothes, with the "stop, drop and roll" technique.    The same technique works when we have a fire of worry going on.

Jesus said if we "seek first the Kingdom of God"....   What does that mean?    Putting God in the first place of our lives in all that we do.    If God is in the proper place, we will be less likely to worry about anything, because we know God is in control of everything.   Yes, there will still be problems that arise in the lives every one of us.    But when we know that God is before us working it out, then it is easier for us to walk it out.   With God first place in our lives we won't be worrying about the trivial things in life.    Sometimes we worry about food and clothing and a roof over our heads, but Jesus used the illustration of the birds and flowers.   God takes care of them, will He not do more for us?

Then Jesus added, "and all these things will be added to you".   Put God in His rightful place and everything else will be put into it's proper place.    God provides for the birds of the air and flowers of the field.   He feeds them and clothes them.    Guess what, He'll do the same for us.    God instilled in his most prized creation, us; human beings, the desire to work.   Now, I realize that some people can't work through no fault of their own.   For me, I can't work like I once did and my job at home is being caretaker of what my husband brings home each week.    I ask God to help me spend wisely and choose wisely and I also ask Him to help me find the best prices on what ever I do need to buy for us.   Clothes and groceries, and anything else we spend money on has been prayed over before we purchase it.

In a previous verse, verse 24, Jesus said we can't serve two masters.    We serve God or we serve money.    We can't serve both.   We must choose which one we will serve.   Put God first place in your life!    It may not be easy to do so.    People may laugh at you and make fun of you.    That's ok, you know why that's ok?    Because Christ died for them, also!    When we live faithful, obedient lives to the Father, others will see Jesus in us.    Keep up the faith and seek God first!!!!

Ladybug, I hope you have a great day today.   Praying fervently for the upcoming days.   Sweetpea loves you bunches and can't wait to see you again!!!

I pray y'all enjoyed your visit today and do come back again!   God loves y'all and so do I.    Have a blessed day!   hugs, Patty

Another Monday

Good evening everyone.    Did y'all have a great weekend?    I sure pray that you did.    I know I did.    Praises to God!!!    My husband had the weekend off and that always makes for a great weekend for us.    Just knowing that he gets to rest is a real blessing for me.     We had made plans early on in the week to make a run up to Ky for a while.    One of my cousins came down from Ohio and spent a long weekend with my Mom and we was planning on visiting so I could see both of them for a bit.    But, they surprised me by coming on down on Saturday and visiting with me and we ate breakfast at Shoney's and then went shopping.    My honey was nice enough to let us have a girls morning out and he also got to have some time for himself.   We hit three or four of the favorite shopping haunts.    Shopping has just got to be one of my favorite words y'all!      The only word better than "shopping" is "sale".     Yeah!!!      We had a great time dining, laughing, and shopping!    It's even better when you're with people you love, it's hard to get any better than that.  

Then Sunday was a great day!     We had Sunday morning services at church and then some afternoon activities.     One of the afternoon activities was to go upon the grounds where our new church building is in progress.     One of the guys on the building committee had cleared it with the contractors for him to show us the progress on the grounds.    It is really exciting to see the dream come to fruition.  We pray for God to be glorified in all we do, now and in the future.    It's not our building, it's God's.    I just pray that everything we do will be pleasing to God.   It was great to go up on the property and walk around and see what is happening.   It seems like it is happening fast, that's a good thing.    I took a few pics.     I had also taken a few pics on Saturday afternoon when hubby and I drove up the road to see what was happening.   We pulled over to the opposite side of the road in a parking lot and took pics.    I wanted to share one or two with y'all.

This is the picture I took on Saturday afternoon.    This was taken with my cell phone.   What I love is the steeple already on the top!    It is  a lovely steeple!

This is one the pics made on Sunday afternoon.     I got a better shot of the steeple.    I love it!!!

This is a shot looking back through what will be the sanctuary.    That is my pastor at the back there looking out over the grounds and taking in what is being done and praying for God's will to be done in this new building.    He is standing in the area back behind the back of the sanctuary.   I think he is standing where the baptistry will be, I'm not really sure.

The projected date for the contractors to be done is November 6th.    It is an exciting time and I do pray that God will use this body of believers to further His kingdom. 

Psalms 25:9 says, "He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way."

My prayer for us as we look to the future and entering into our new building is that we will enter the new building with a humble heart.    Knowing that it does not belong to us, but God.    I pray that God will lead us and direct us in His ways.    I pray that we are humble enough to be taught by God.    It is easy to forget sometimes that God always has our best interests at heart.    The world is always playing a tug of war with us.    There are so many things that can occupy our thoughts and our minds to the point that we leave God out.    I just pray that we will humble ourselves before the Lord God Almighty, and and allow Him to teach us His ways.    I pray for God's blessings on us as we go forward  in the coming days.  

In the mean time, I pray for God to be able to use each and every one of us right where we are now.    And He is.    Let us never grow weary in serving God, right where we are.    Does someone around you need to have a big dose of hope?   God is the source of our hope, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

I pray for God to bless each and every one of y'all with a wonderful night of rest and that you will remember to thank God for this wonderful day before you close your eyes in sleep.

Ladybug, sweetpea loves you and keeps you close in prayer.   God bless you in the days to come.

I pray that y'all will come back to visit with me again real soon.   If you seen something here that you enjoyed, share it with someone.   God bless y'all.
God loves y'all and so do I.    hugs, Patty    

New Card

Howdy folks, "how y'all are" today?    I know, I know, not proper grammar, but if I have told y'all once, I have told y'all a time or two more that that's not me at all.   gggg    Some of y'all out there will remember a cajun chef by the name of Justin Wilson some years ago.    He had a cooking show that aired on our local Public Broadcasting System (PBS) some many years ago.    I loved watching him cook and tell stories while he done so.    His was as much a story telling time as it was cooking program and I always watched, till they stopped airing it.    One of his favorite greetings was "How Y'all Are?".    So, that was my homage to him this morning, from me to y'all.   ggg

I hope today is a most glorious one for y'all.     I will be ever mindful to ask y'all to pray for those around you that are hurting.    We all now people that are hurting, sick, awaiting surgery, friends healing from previous surgery and the list goes on.    Please remember these folks, y'all.    We all need help from time to time, so let's be diligent in keeping these folks lifted to God in  prayer.

I have had a fun filled week so far, starting with my birthday on Monday, and Ladies Night Out at church last night where one of the ladies asked me if I was trying to get the preachers job.    By the way, our Pastor would get a kick out of this.    I said I wasn't, but...if he ever needs a break, I would be happy to fill in, because if it was the will of God, He would certainly give me what I need when I need it.   We never know what God is preparing us for, so we just need to be ready at all times.   So, guess what y'all, I'm ready!   hahaha     It really was a fun time, just being with our sisters in Christ is always great.

This morning I needed to make a card for a friend of mine who's beautiful daughter graduated from high school.    So, I got to work on it and got it made, it is happily awaiting a trip to the post office, here in a bit.    I did take pics and I hope you enjoy them.

This is the cutest little stamp.    It is from a set of Inky Antics called Swirly Sunshine and Flowers.    It is such a fun and uplifting stamp and it also has several really nice sayings with it, but I didn't use them this time.

I used my SN markers to color it in.   I am really starting to enjoy the markers more and more.

Then I used my Cuttlebug and fav Spellbinder die to cut it out.   I used Tsuneko Brilliance Archival Pigment Pearlescent Beige color Ink Pad to ink the edges of the cut out.    It has a very subtle shimmer to it.

I then took a frosty mauve Studio brand ink pad and inked the edge of the card base and adhered the top to the base.    I didn't take a pic of the inside, but I had written a verse, then chose a pretty font and printed it out, to go on the inside left of the card and just square cut then and used the frosty mauve again and inked the edges so it would pop a little.

I know the young lady will be thrilled with it.    She is a wonderful young lady and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for her.    It will be awesome, for sure.

So, this was just a quick update for y'all this morning and I hope you enjoyed it.    It seems as if all I do anymore is colored images, but I am just trying to learn to use the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.    It has really been challenging for me, but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's not a train coming.    hahahah    My mantra, "I will learn, I will learn, I will........"

God bless you as you go through your day.    May you see all the beauty that is before you.    May you have the mindset to thank God for seeing it all!

Mark 11:22 says:  And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God."  

When  you have time, sit down and read a few verses in Mark, Chapter 11, verses 20-26.    Maybe read the whole chapter to get a good grip on what is happening here.    The religious people already wanted to kill Jesus.    Jesus had turned the religious crust up side down, and they were seething mad at Him.    They had their little money rackets going, right on the temple grounds.    They had turned the House of God into a den of thieves and Jesus called them out on it and they was plotting to get rid of Him.    When people that need Jesus listen to the teachings of Jesus, religious folks start getting scared and they want to get rid of Jesus and His teachings.

The same is true today.    Most churches are so full of religion and law, there is no room for Jesus and grace.    Examine some of the traditions that take place on a regular basis in your church.    Why do we do what we do?    Is what we do rooted in what "man" has determined we should do, or is it rooted in the foundations and principals of Jesus Christ when He said "Loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself" is the two most important commandments.

Do we have faith in God enough to say that it doesn't matter what my worship and praise to God looks like to others, I'm still gonna worship and praise God as He sees fit for me to do.    The calling of God on my life is gonna look different than the calling of God on your life.    He didn't use cookie cutters to make us.    He created us in His divine image.    Each one of us is unique, but each one of us possess characteristics and traits of our Creator.    Let your worship and praise of your Creator reflect "how" He created you to worship and praise Him!    

What is God calling you to do?    Jesus said, "Have faith in God."    Those words are as applicable today as they were when Jesus spoke them more than 2000 years ago.    Again, what is God calling you to do?    Maybe God is calling you to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life.    If He is, then that is the very first step that each and every one of us who is serving the Lord, took.    You have to accept Christ as the Lord of your life, first.   Repent of you sins.    Yes, I said sin.    That is a word that people don't like to hear, but for the life of me, I can't call it anything different to what God called it.    He called it sin.   Ask Jesus into your heart, the soul of your being, the essence of who you are.    Ask Him to make a difference in your life.    Ask Him to help you to "Have faith in God."      Those are requests that He, Jesus is eagerly and patiently waiting to fulfill in the lives of those who will ask.

May God bless the rest of this day for you.

Ladybug, I hope today is a a fun filled day for you as you minister to those around you.   Sweetpea loves you and prays for you daily and for the days ahead.

Y'all come back again real soon.   God loves y'all and so do I.   hugs, Patty

A Special Day

Good evening y'all!    I hope and pray that this update finds each and every one of y'all filled with joy and that you are happy to have been a part of such a great and wonderful day.    The weather has been picture perfect, absolutely beautiful.   I just thank God for all the beauty of this day.    I hope you do too.    I just thank Him and praise Him for this day.

Today has been a special day for me.    I had on my agenda to do something today that I had not done since high school.    That's been more years than I really care to remember or admit.   gggg    What did that crazy woman do today, you ask?     I took an oil painting class.     Oh yeah, yes I did!!!   I went to this class today with "NO" expectations of myself, other than to have a great time!     To be honest, I didn't even know if I could hold a paintbrush long enough to get a painting done.    So, that's why I set my goal for fun, nothing more, nothing less.    It really helped too that one of my friends joined me.    There was gonna be another one of my friends taking the class too, but she had some things that came up and she needed to take care of family.    So, hopefully, next time she can get to paint too.  

After we got started with the painting and gotten to about the fourth step, I realized I was gonna have enough time between steps to take a pic before we moved on to the next step, so I took out my new cell phone that my wonderful husband had gotten for me recently and snapped away.    So, without further a due, here is my pics.    Now, for all you pro's out there, remember, this is my first oil painting, so, no judgements, ok......

The above pic is painted with liquid white so everything else would flow on the canvas good.

This pic has the sky put in first, then the sand up front, then we went back in to the middle and put the water in.    We put the sand in second so we would not run out of space for the beach while putting in the water.

Then we added our rocks on the right hand side.

I forgot to take a pic here, so there are two things added to this one.   The first thing, we used a clean flat brush and went in under the rock formation and drew the brush straight down, creating the shadow that the rock cast.   Then we took the knife blade and loaded it with a small bead of white paint and drew it down under the rocks,  creating the foam that water rolling back off the beach and lapping into the rocks create.

This one, we painted in our palm trees.    I started getting a shaky hand on this and almost messed it up, but I did manage to get it worked out.

Ok, here, I missed another step.   We took our green and the fan brush and just laid in the rough palm branches.   After getting them roughed in, we then took the fan brush and laid it on the first part of the branches we had painted and then pulled down, creating the palm fronds.

I just now realized that I forgot to take another pic back earlier before we painted in our palm trees.    Before the trees, we took our knife blade and again, we loaded a small roll of white paint on the edge and then went into the blue of the water and made waves and then smoothed them out just a bit with a brush.

Here, we took our fan brush and a mixture of brown and green and laid in a tiny plot of soil around the base of the trees.    We then took just a small amount of yellow and created little bits of texture in the grass.    You can look real closely and see that we took our fan brushes and went up the canvas just a bit, creating the look of grass on the little hillside.    We also laid in a bit of brown just at the base of the trees, creating more of a shadow.

Next, we took our tiny little brush and swirled it in the brown paint and rolled it to a point and then laid it at the top of the hill and pulled up, making taller grass. We then dipped the tiny brush in just a bit of yellow and touched it to the top of some of the grass to make the little seed pods that you see at the top of grass.

I was really happy with the end result of my painting.    I don't know when I have had as much fun and was so relaxed and just had a euphoric feeling when I left.   I had wanted to do something like this for such a long time, but I was afraid to take the step and go for it.    I was afraid of failure.    Hey, I'm just being real with y'all.    I had let fear of failure keep me from doing a lot of fun and good stuff in my life.    Watch out world, here I come!!!     The fun thing is, I can do this every month now, because the class is offered once a month.    Yay!!!!

As I leave you this evening, I leave you with a favorite scripture of mine: Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Paul was a man who had been there, done that, so to speak.    At one point in time, he had been a chief persecutor of the church.    He was in the crowd that stoned Stephen.  He was probably the ring leader of those that stoned Stephen.    But, when he had his encounter with the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, on the road to Damascus, his life was forever changed.    He went from chief persecutor of the church, to the chief proclaimer of Jesus Christ.    Read the small book of Philippians and you will see how Paul has learned to trust Jesus in every aspect of his life.    Paul had come to the conclusion, that if Christ asked him to do it, he knew he would be able to do it, because his strength came from Jesus Christ. 

What ever Jesus Christ asks us to do, we can do it.    God's intention is to "never" set us up for failure.     God always has our best interests at heart.    The enemy is the one that bombards our minds with, "I can't do that; I will fail at that; what makes you think you can do that; you really think that God will help you do that."

I don't know about you, but the enemy has told me every one of those things and many more.    I bought in to his lies, and I'll bet that at some point in time, you have bought it to them also.    When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were set free from the condemnation that we had once been in.    There is "NO CONDEMNATION IN CHRIST!"     When the enemy comes knocking on your door, just say, "Jesus, would you please get the door for me?"

We can't fight the enemy on our own and we don't even need to try.   We just turn it over to Jesus Christ, He has already won every battle we'll ever be in, we just need to claim the victory!!!!   And say as Paul said,  " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

Oh, I had almost forgot.    The title for today's update was "A Special Day".    Did y'all wonder what was special about today?     Well, it is my Birthday!     This is the day that my Mother gave birth to me, 55 years ago.    Thanks, Mom!!!!     I love you more than you could possibly know!    I pray for you every day!     And I am praying for the days to come.     I am praying for God's blessings on you!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today.    I hope and pray that y'all come back again in the near future.   If you enjoyed your visit here today, share it with someone.     Until next time, God loves y'all and so do I!    hugs, Patty

Sharing a Couple of Cards

Good morning y'all.    I pray that wherever y'all are today that you're excited to be a part of God's plan!     I know I am.    I don't know what kind of plans y'all have for today, but I will assure that if you invite God to be a part of your plans, your plans will be much better.    Don't believe me!     Try it!     I, again, am reminded of a tv commercial from way back in the day that said, "Try it, you'll like it".     So, that is the challenge for the day.     Invite God to be a part of all that you do.     Then, thank Him for blessing you in an amazing way, by being present in you life and plans today.

I have a couple of cards I want to share with y'all today.    I made these cards for some friends at church whose mother went home to be with the Lord after a lengthy illness.    God heard the prayers of all who had been praying for her.    She is now healed and in the presence of her Maker!    Praises for that!

This first is a Magnolia Blossom from Crafters Companion, by Sheena Douglass.  I love this big blossom and I loved the challenge for me to use my Spectrum Noir Markers to color it.   

For the blossom itself, I used just one color, my lightest color purple, and outlined the stamped image.   That's it.    I definitely enjoy the way it turned out.

The biggest challenge for me was the leaves.    I really had a time with them.

But, I think I finally got them blended pretty well, using three colors.

Then, after I got it colored and I always use a very light color and outline the image all the way around.     For some reason, I like that look.     Then I stamped my sympathy sentiment and used my Cuttlebug and a Spellbinders die and cut out around the image.    This particular die has become my "go to" die for the images that I have used my SN markers on.    I just like it.   I have tried to find something else, but I haven't found anything I like as well as I like this particular die.   I lightly inked around the edge of the image with a pale green ink pad.     I took another ink pad, a shade or two darker, and inked all around the front edge of the white card base, about an inch all around.     After I mounted the image to the card base, it looks like it is layered with another piece of cardstock.

Then my second card was another of my Iris images from Crafters Companion, by Sheena Douglass, again.     I love her images.    They have lots of great detail and there is also great videos showing how to color them.    I sure need all the help I can get.   ggg

I have colored this image so many times now, but I still never get it quite like I want it, but I think I am almost there.     I love the Iris and my friend that gets this one love Irises also.    

I used the same Spellbinder die to cut this one out that I used on the Magnolia. 

I used the same sympathy stamp on this one also.     I think I may be getting the hang of blending the three colors for the leaves.    I also forgot to mention that over the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, Crafters Comapnion had a half price sale.    So, I ordered two packages of the cardstock they recommend for using with their SN markers, and I do really like it!    I do think it has helped me get just a tad better with my blending and it has a wonderful feel to it, plus it is a lot thicker than the cardstock I had been using from Wal-Mart.

This is a close up of the edge of this card.     I inked the edge of my cutout with my small ink pad in a lt. purple.    Then for the outer edge of the card front base, I used parchment color.    I really like the way this one turned out.

I hope and pray that they give a little comfort to my friends as they go thru this painful transition.    I just pray for their hearts to mend a little every day.     I know they will lean on God also.

All of us know people who are hurting, sick, or just plain trying to deal with a boat load of junk.    Put those people on your prayer list.    I have several family members and friends and church family on my list that I pray for daily.    It not only helps them, but it helps me to pray for these folks.    It will help you too, to pray for the people that you know, who needs your prayers.

Galatians 6:9 says "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season
we will reap, if we do not give up."

One of the best ways we can do good, is to pray for those around about us.    We may not know someones story, but you can bet your bottom dollar, every one has a story.    Some are not easily shared, just because of the nature of the story and the pain that goes along with it.    Just because you may not know a person's story, doesn't mean you can't pray for them.     God knows all of our stories.     He has seen us thru them whether we acknowledge He did or not.    So, don't grow weary of praying for the people that you know who needs it.     The time will come when you need the prayers of the people who care for you.    We all hope and pray that those times don't come, but they will.     It is a wonderful thing to know that your prayers has helped someone thru a trying time and then when you need prayer for the situation you are facing, just knowing that your brothers and sisters in Christ are ready to pour out their heart to Father God, on your behalf is equally wonderful.    Your "due season" will be blessed by God.    Hang in there, don't give up praying for those that need it, which is all of us.

Sweetpea is sending many hugs and much love to Ladybug today!!!!

May God Bless each and every one of y'all in such a special way today!     Come back again real soon and see what I have for y'all.    Stay dry and keep on crafting.    Until next time, God loves y'all and so do I!    hugs, Patty

June Card Ministry

Good morning y'all!!!    I have lost something and I surely hope that y'all can help me find it and get it back!     What have I lost, you ask?    Only the first 5 months of 2104!    My goodness, where has it gone!     I do feel a bit like Little Bo Peep, only I have lost days and not sheep.    Maybe if I had a shepherds hook, I could hold on to my days a bit better.    I have no idea where they have gone to.    If you do, please share with me and tell me how I can get them back.    hahahaha    Of course I am kidding, but I tell you, I would take an extra day or two, if you have some to spare.    Oh well, I reckon "it is what it is", and I have to deal with.    So, a reality check, "it is June" and I've not lost my mind!!!  whew!!!

So, here it is Thursday and I am posting about our June Card Making Ministry.    As usual, it was a great time for those of us that got together.   There was six of us on Monday night.    Three of the regulars was not there, but we had three new ladies to show up, and they brought a bushel of fun with them.    I sure do hope and pray that they continue to come, it really is a blessing to get together and make cards.    We laughed so much that my ribs was sore the next day.    Those of us who have been doing it for a while was readily eager to help the new ladies jump in and start creating cards.

As usual, we made three different cards.   Each person made two of each one so we all made a total of six cards.    We each keep one of each, and then give the other card to the church.    Some times the Pastor will get some and the rest are passed out to the ladies in Sunday School for them to send to the sick and shut-ins.    Everyone loves them.     I did make pics and would love to share them with y'all.

Now, this first card was a Patriotic card that we made last month and I did not have one of them at the time I posted the others that we made.   It is a very beautiful card with all the angles and stars and red, white and blue.    A wonderful card.    The lady that is in charge of this project always does an awesome job in choosing what we make.    It is also noteworthy to mention that her husband helps her cut a lot of the pieces out.    He's a keeper!!!!

Now, this is the starting of what was made Monday night.    This light blue and white card is very beautiful.    It is four pieces layered and then applied to the front of the card.   A little bit of ribbon tied in a simple, loose knot and wrapped and taped to the back.     One of the layers of the blue was punched down both sides making the fancy edge.     So simple, but elegant.

This one, well, let me just say it makes me happy.    Those of you that know me, will know instantly why this makes me happy.    Ok, come on, you knooooow.     Sure you do, it's "PURPLE"!!!!!    Oh yeah!    And what's not to love about white polka dots, especially when they are on a purple background?     The little circle on the front was popped out with her big shot and a die and then we used about two feet of ribbon to weave around it and tied it in  a bow knot.

This last card reminds me of sunshine in an envelope.    It is quite simple but elegant also.    This was a die and a stamp that is coordinating.   The 3d flower in the middle is the same shape as the stamped flowers.    And then the center of the flower was another little die and then a little rhinestone in the middle.    Oh yeah, we got a little bling going on.    hahahaha     It is such a cheery card.   These will all be big hits with the people who get them in the mail.

As I leave you this morning, I leave you with a wonderful scripture.     

Psalm 118:24 says,  "This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."  

Is that your mind set this morning as you get ready to start another day?     I really hope it is.    This is the day the Lord has made.     You and I had nothing to do with it.    God made it for us.     There "has never been" another day in the history of world exactly like this one.    There "will never be" another day in the history of the world exactly like this one.    We get one shot at this one day.    We will either rejoice and be glad in it, because that is the choice we made, or we will grumble and stumble through it and make everyone around us miserable.   I pray that all of y'all will make the choice to be "glad" in it.    Yes, I do know and realize that a lot of you are facing this day with lots of difficulty and uncertain circumstances.    But, if you have a personal relationship with the One who made this day for you, then you know He will be with you today, just like He was yesterday, and just like He will be with you tomorrow.     God is the creator of all time, every second of it.    Let's make a conscious effort today to rejoice in all of our circumstances.    Let's make an effort today, to be glad in this day, because it is a unique day and we want to make the best of it.

Memorize this scripture, if you haven't already and let that be your "motto" for every day of the rest of you life, recognizing that God made the days, and we will joyfully, be glad in every day that He lets us be a part of.   That sounds like a pretty good plan y'all!    

Well, I hope y'all have a spectacular day ahead of yourselves.     Enjoy the day.     Tell someone you know that God made this day just for them because He loves them.     Everyone needs a little hope.    My hope is God, thru Jesus Christ.    I pray yours is too.

Have a wonderful day Ladybug!    Sweetpea loves you!

Until next time, God loves y'all and so do I.   hugs, Patty