Grateful Sunday

Boy this weekend has been so filled with good things I scarcely know where to begin.

• I am grateful for our church camp
• I am grateful for the body of Christ working together towards a common goal.
• I am grateful for a life full of activity and work
• I am grateful for amazing kids, who work hard and don't complain yes its true!
• Thank you Lord for community and family!

Paper Crowns

A crown shows the significance of a person, declares them as royalty... maybe in the middle ages! Now, they are a source of artwork, how cool is that? Here is my entry for Layers of Color Challenge I love my chickens they are a great source of comfort and a reminder of the country life I long for, so of course, my crown is entitled Queen of the Henhouse!

I used newspaper as the base, scraps of red paper, acrylic paints, colored glitter glue, clip art, coffee filters, buttons and feathers! I love its rustic appeal don't you? She is so cute with her two roosters standing guard and her little chicks gathered around her.

The second entry is by my mother, Carol V. She made my children crowns for Valentine's Day this year, isn't she quite clever? -(mom hope you don't mind that I posted your crown ;o)this one was for my youngest daughter! It too has feathers, glitter, clip art, a ribbon flower that I made years ago for her, and lots of tinsel trim! Great job mom!

Grateful Sunday

I have quite a few things to be grateful for here are just a few...

• Visiting the ocean and the smell of the salty-sea air
• Watching my children run in wild abandonment at the vast space begging for blissful play
• Quite peaceful mornings in meditation and prayer
• Learning something new-I took a gardening class :o)
• Working in my garden, watching the wonder of growing things, how does God make things grow out of this soil and earth?
• The contented joy of a days work done well and the tired body to go with it :o)
• Working towards a common goal
• Looking forward to good things to come

Thank you Lord for this day and all that has been in it!

Oh Mr. Darcy

This is the enry I did for Stamp Something's new challenge "firsts". There is nothing like a first kiss right?

This is an ATC and I used ephemera, buttons, foil sticker, stamps feather, and german scrap! Oh so romantic!

Mother Dearest

In honor of Mother's Day. I was out of town so I am squeeking in at the last minute to post this art for an art challenge on Art Girlz and Layers of Color. Arty Girlz challenge was 3-D and for this post I use dimensional stickies to raise the image off the embossed wallpaper. And for Layers of Color the art challenge is embossed! So I not only used the embosed wallpaper but I also used metal tape and embossed a designed into that as well.

I also use acrylic paint, color pencils, fiber fuzzy yarn, antique button, heart pin, and stamped image using white ink!

Hip Hip Horray-It's May

My Lilacs are Blooming! My Lilacs are blooming!

Oh, they smell so heavenly-especially, when they are carried on the evening breeze warmed by the days sun! My goodness! I have been vigorously, and I mean vigorously, working in my garden. This year I redid two of my delapidated beds. Phew! talk about a tilling the soil with the sweat of your brow! Ah, but those sweet and tender sun ripened strawberries will sure be worth all the toil now!

This year I decided to try my hand at Dahlias. Yippee! I am excited to see those beauties bloom forth! And it is a fruiting year for us too. We should have lots of apples and pears, along with rhubarb, blueberries and raspberries. I will also plant tomatoes, beans, spinach, lettuce, arugula, dill and rainbow carrots. Should be a wonderful and hopefully bountiful season.

I have also realized that my wonderful chickens can not be in my garden, boy they can be naughty girls sometimes! But boy are they cute.

Like they say, you can take the girl outta the country but you can't take the country outta the girl! Yeee Haw and Thank God!

The Dandelion Vase

My heart is singing with joy today, what a nice contrast to last week! I was just blessed by my two youngest children. I recieved this handpicked bouquet! Isn't it so precious? This is my Dandelion Vase. It is one of my most treasured things. Oh, I know that there is dirt stuck at the bottom and it isn't very big. It's not even real crystal. But, I love it just the same!

This was a gift given to me by a lovely lady and her daughter from our church. At the time I really didn't know her that well, in fact we hadn't been at this church for very long and here I was going to a baby shower these ladies were dearly preparing for me. Anyway, I didn't know it at the time but this gal lived with her two children and husband on his a very modest carpenters salery.

When I opened this gift I saw this little vase and she had told me, a bit self-consciously in front of everyone else, that she had gotten it at a second hand shop. This was special to me because I love old and used treasure. Then I read the handwritten note that came with it. I couldn't help it, I started crying. Big tears welled up in my eyes. This is what it said:

This little vase might not seem like much, but won't it be a wonder to see what it will be filled with by your toddlers chubby little hands? Won't it be wonderful to talk about the beautiful "weeds" that God has made for us to enjoy. And as you talk to your children about these things you will be planting precious seeds of God's love in their hearts. These seeds will grow with a little water and a little sunshine from you. It may take a long time but someday they will blossom. May your children grow to know the love of Jesus and may this little vase be filled with their love and God's love for you, dear Mother.

Today was a good day, I got to use my Dandelion Vase!

A Thousand Gifts

This week was a hard week especially the last couple of days. So I am eeking this out with the last ounce of energy, hopefully it will be glorifying to the Lord and change my attitude.

I am grateful for a life lived with trial, it is through trial I have gained character. It is through suffering that some of the hard edges of pride and haughtiness have been struck off. It is through perseverance that these edges are worn smooth. Press on. Remember to die to self is to gain.

I am grateful I can forgive those who have wrong me.

I am grateful to have a life filled with a longing to continue to learn new things about myself
even when they are things I may not like.

Then I am grateful to posess the will to change it and the Holy Spirit who can transform the heart from the inside out. It is nice to know I don't have to do it all by myself!

I grateful for a plot of land to till and get my fingers dirty in.

I'm grateful for a tired sore body that tells me I have accomplished something today.

Layers of Color Challenge

The Yellow Rose of Texas?... No Friendship!

In Floriology(language of flowers) a yellow rose signifies friendship and the blue For-get-me-nots, obviously mean remember me! This is my entry in the Layers of Color Challenge for May 3rd. I thought this appropriate and I am extending a yellow rose of friendship to all my new friends participating in the Layers of Color Art Challenge!

This is done on raw canvas with acrylic paints, collage image, glossy mod podge, stamps and buttons.