Tag tuesday - windows

It's tuesday again and Louise is hosting her tag tuesday challenge with the theme windows, which can be found here.



I used a K&Co background. With a 1" square punch I made a window and cut a frame around it and stamped and added my image to the reverse side of it. The butterfly is from Hero arts.



Today I got a visit from Tania from Belgium. Her blog is called Poekietoe's Corner and can be found here. This is the first time I have met somebody via the blog world and it was a lovely visit. Tania is staying in a holiday house about ten minutes drive from where we live with her DH and two sons. The weather is extremely hot at the moment, but thank goodness there is a breeze. Thanks Tania for your visit!

Meditation Monday : the source of JOY

I haven't had the concentration to really think about Meditation Monday this week - I am having problems with the heat and other things have distracted me.

So I am going to share a devotional message from Derek Prince, my favorite Bible Teacher about joy.

Quote:

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy....
Psalm 43:4

David had learned two things concerning joy. First, there is only one source of joy: It is God Himself.
Second, there is only one place where we can draw from that source: It is the altar. The altar is the place of sacrifice, the place of commitment and consecration, the place where our lives are laid down.
Through the sacrifice we make at the altar, the joy that comes from God alone is released within us.

There is a great difference between joy and happiness. Joy is in the realm of the spirit. Happiness is in the realm of the soul. Happiness is related to our emotions, our feelings, our circumstances. When things are not going well, we have unhappiness. It is good to have happiness, but we cannot have it all the time.

Joy, on the other hand, is not dependent on feelings or circumstances. It does not depend on our physical condition. It is within the spirit. There is only one source of joy, and that is God - God Himself. God is eternal, unchangeable. That is why it is possible to have joy even when we cannot feel happiness or pleasure. Joy is eternal, unchangeable, unaffected by situations or circumstances.

But joy is released only at the altar. We have to make up our minds, as David did, that we will go to God, to the altar - the place of sacrifice - the place of commitment and consecration - the place where we yield ourselves without reservation to God. Then we can have joy all the time, unchangeably.

Faith's response:
On Your altar, Lord, I lay down my life without reservation. Release within me the joy that comes from you alone.

Unquote

Have a joyful week!
Jacqueline

Challenge Hero Arts - complementary colours

My tags for this weeks challenge over at Hero Arts.





Shari Carroll is hosting this challenge and I must admit out of all the proposed complementary colour combos, 'green/red' seemed to me to be the most attractive. But I went with black/white and lavender/yellow.


This is a grid card I made from two projects that went wrong. The stamp is from Hero arts and was stamped once in white and in bronze on glossy card stock with an alcohol ink basis. I didn't like them as they were so just punched out squares and circles.

This is the stamp I used for the gone wrong projects.

Tag Tuesday - time

I really love this little challenge that Louise hosts every week. The theme today is to make a tag related to 'time'.

The challenge can be found here.

I used K&Co patterned paper for my background panel, a vintage image, stamped clock (CI), and Hero Arts script stamp for my tag.

Meditation Monday - do we recognize God's discipline?

Hi there - I hope today's meditation will be a blessing for you! Discipline might not be a popular subject but without it God wouldn't be pure LOVE!! I discipline my kids because I love them and want them to grow up right and also to protect them.... wouldn't God who is infinite LOVE and wisdom do the same??

The Bible speaks about God being our Father and how He compares Himself to an earthly father saying:
"Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it". Hebr.12:9-11

I remember getting a card with a Bible verse for my birthday once from a family from our church. The verse was:
'I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.' John 12:24
I was only young in my faith and was quite indignant about it. I thought to myself, well, I've given my life to the Lord, I'm totally committed and now I get told that I still have to die to myself - haven't I done that already?!

And that is what discipline is all about - we just do not have the same picture as God does of our own hearts and in time God administers his discipline to change us and mold us to produce a harvest of righteousness and peace.

In the book of Job, the most amazing verse can be found - it could almost be missed.
Job 36:15
"He delivers the afflicted in their affliction,
And opens their ear in time of oppression.

This verse has been a comfort to me in the many times I have felt God's discipline and affliction in my life. It has never been pleasant but I needed my ears opened to progress in my walk with Him. I have always seen an up going line through the years! Without God's discipline I would probably still be the headstrong, cocky sure of herself woman, who had to be broken in order to be of any use to the Kingdom of God. I had to learn what respect for authority meant, respect for the head of our home (my DH), how to submit, how to control the words of my mouth, to be wise and loving etc. Those things don't come easy without God having to do it His Way!!

So really my encouragement to you today is - treat your afflictions with care - God might have a purpose for them and they all work together for God for those that love Him.

Of course, we don't have to accept what the devil wants to impose on us, which is usually guilt and condemnation - they never come from God - but if God disciplines us - yield and watch Him bring you through to enjoy more and more victory in your daily life!

I want to end with a quote from Derek Prince which is so true:
Quote: The problem of many contemporary educational systems lies in the fact that discipline has been abandoned and with it teaching has ceased. I know from my own experience that if a teacher cannot exercise discipline, he cannot really teach.
God, however, is wiser than that. He never tries to teach those who refuse His discipline.
Unquote

Have a great week!
Jacqueline

The winner of the Hero Arts blog candy is...

My son chose a number between 1 and 62 and that was nr. 47 which is

PIPPA 67

I did not count four comments, these were ladies who asked not to be included in the draw.

Luckily I know where to find you on Flickr Pippa, so congratulations!!
I will be flickr mailing you today!

Thanks to all the very kind comments everybody!!

Jacqueline

Postcard arch

It has been such a long time ago that I made an arch.
The challenge can be found here.



I used the Cut out flower distressed from Hero arts and the postcard is from K&Co.

Thanks to Nancy hosting this challenge!

Blog candy in celebration of my Day on the blog with Shari Carroll of Hero Arts!

To celebrate today I am sharing some of the contents of a beautiful box of crafting supplies I received to create with for my day on the Hero Arts blog! I have included some patterned paper from my own supplies and a card.




Please feel free to join in from whichever continent you come from by leaving a comment with some means of contacting you! I will ask my son to choose a number this coming Monday 22nd June and announce the winner Monday afternoon, here and on a discussion thread over on the Hero Arts flickr gallery.

If you want to have access to see the cards Shari and I made, here is the link.

Thank you so much for all your kind support!!
Jacqueline

.. for the JOY of the LORD is your strength....!

Last Monday I shared the idea of using a Bible verse on a card and to choose somebody to send it too, to encourage and bless that person. Just today I got a little visit from a lady who had been on her bed for a month with a hernia and I had sent her a card - she wanted to thank me personally. Little things do a lot!!

So I chose this verse for today.



And here is my card using this verse. I used a 'stamped' Bible verse which Louise from KardKrazy had sent to me, but I cannot copy this for download so I made my own, which I will probably use myself too later on for another card.



This card will be going to Isabelle in South Africa. The winter is just beginning over there and we heard that she is sick with the flu. She does missionary work in this country.

So if you want to join in - just click on the verse above and print it out. It should be the right size. Feel free to link your card to this post, I would love to see what you create and for whom it is!

Meditation Monday - some thoughts on prayer

As I have been praying this week for a new meditation for today I really felt I should share some thoughts on prayer. I remember when I gave my heart and life to Jesus more than thirty years ago, my prayers were ALWAYS answered! I only had to yell and God was there! As the years went by my prayers did not always get answered and I began to feel a bit insecure. I know now that God was building up my faith, which shall outlast prayer in the long run. Now, thirty years later I have seen that God has weened me from being an infant into an adult. Prayer is not just expecting answers.

Over the years I have really given 'prayer' a lot of thought... I am the kind of person that wants results. I want to be productive, impact my surroundings, bear fruit and see change. I want to change too! So prayer is a very important part of life because it develops our relationship with God. The Bible says that Jesus Christ opened the way for us to have access to the Father.

But prayer has left me very frustrated at times! It tests our patience, our faith, our hope... our everything! Sometimes it seems like God is there, another time we just can't seem to get anywhere and just give up! I have been there, for months, sometimes years, just struggling!! How does it work Lord?? What do I have to do or not do to get a satisfactory prayer life??!! I have begged, I have prayed for longer periods, I have stopped praying for short periods, all I wanted was to have contact with my FATHER!!

I believe that I have found a satisfactory answer for this now and want to share it with you - perhaps you too are struggling with a barren prayer life or just that you don't understand where God is!!

For me, prayer is MAKING CONTACT WITH GOD through FAITH in His Word. God is LOVE - everything positive and compassionate is found in Him. When I pray, I connect to that Source. I proclaim what the Word says. When I pray for people, I connect to Him and convey blessing in the Name of Jesus to those I pray for and I believe that it changes a situation. I don't always have to see the results or hear about them, I don't always have to see the answers to my own prayer needs - it is enough to know I have connected with HIM by faith and I rest in that awesome assurance. That is why prayer is important because there are so many negative vibes around us that we have to stay connected to Him! People are like radios.. we receive and we convey what we pick up from the airwaves! We are only on the right wavelength when we connect to God!

Jer.29:13 says "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart".
It could change your whole life!

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I also have been thinking about being more challenging on my blog - giving the cards I create a goal instead of seeing them ending up in a basket for 'future' use.
So what I will be doing now and again is, I will create a little downloadable Bible verse on my blog and make a card to send to somebody with that verse on it. If you want to join in and use the verse for a card for somebody, please do! There are so many people who can do with a little bit of encouragement!

If you want to link your card to this blog with a prayer request for that person, even better!

It's summer!

Let's hope it stays this way too... 33 degrees centigrade, which is in the 90°s Fahrenheit.



Washing is dry in 1 hour or less! I took some photos of the hollyhocks in the garden as I so enjoy this time of the year.



I made another definition tag too, just love this kind of collage art and they make nice little gifts too.

Have a great weekend.

Tag Tuesday - definitions

Definition stamps are some of my favorites. The theme this week was to use a definition stamp on your tag. I chose the ART def. stamp from Hero Arts.



The challenge can be found here on Louise's blog.

Meditation Monday - DO YOU WORRY?

WORRY... if I'm not worrying I will actually try and find something to worry about!!

That is human nature and still God has a lot to say about this in His Word, the Bible. I am amazed at how much emphasis, in a humorous way, God puts on this very natural inclination that a human being seems to be full of!

We actually feel that worrying is proof that we don't live careless, irresponsible lifes! But at the same time worry makes life heavy and tires us out!
At times we can forget our cares and seek distraction but before we know it they seem to appear again!

I had to go for a check-up a couple of weeks ago, which I had put off endlessly because of worry and I said to the Lord - the evening before I go I will read what you have to say to me in my devotional... which I don't always read in the evenings - even then I got worried about what God would have to say!!

To my pure delight I read how God says, as with a sigh:

"OH! I wish you were without worry!" 1 Cor. 7:32

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure to his stature or to the span of his life?
Is not life greater than food and the body more than clothing??" Math.6:25,26

In fact when Jesus spoke these words he said that when we worry we see everything out of proportion!

We have to see worry as a fact that we don't really believe what God says! We want to carry our own burdens and chain ourselves with our own blindness, stubbornness and impatience! It is so difficult to let go and to let GOD!

So what is the solution?- in this same Bible passage - Jesus says: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you"!

I have seen that keeping my priorities right have even given me more time to craft!

I will end with this all-in solution that God gives us - promising that IF we do as the Word says His promise will be PEACE, not a worldy peace but a peace that transcends all understanding!

Phil. 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

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Thank you to all the ladies who commented on last week's MM - it is such a thrill to share our faith and to be interactive!

Circles

There was a challenge last Tuesday to make a card with circles here, I am very late but I wanted to give it a try!



I used the woodgrain background stamp from Hero Arts and also part of a sentiment from HA which is 'treasure the moment' although that is not so clear to see. I really enjoyed using up the scraps from the scrap basket for this card.

Just wanted to mention that Deborah Nolan, a very funny journalist and clever card-maker from the Hero Arts flickr group interviewed me about my card-making and she added her own introduction about my blog. If you are interested, here is the link - thanks to you Deborah!

Thank you Artistic Outpost!

It's wednesday already! Just wanted to share a card I made using a stamp from a plate I recently won on the Artistic Outpost blog. The stamp in question is the pink decorative swirl, just love it.



Underneath you can see the whole plate I received.

Meditation Monday - What has God promised to you?

As this subject has been playing an important role in my life the past weeks I thought it would make a great meditation.

As we know the Bible is FULL of God's promises to those who put their trust in Him. They are YES and AMEN in Jesus Christ!

It's His letter of LOVE to us! BUT, there are certain promises that we receive as RHEMA - that means that the Holy Spirit brings them alive to our hearts and we know that we can count on that promise of God being fulfilled in our lives!!
I have received many promises from God, from His Word at different stages in my life, personally, as a couple, concerning our children, our work and our future. But these promises will always be challenged by life and by the devil. The devil knows the Word of God better than we do and he will always try to distract us from receiving what God has for us!!

To give you an example. Our second child has Down Syndrome - he is truly loved by us and a huge blessing in our lives, but he does bring problems and stress and he needs a lot of care. He is partially deaf and doesn't speak and lately has obsessive behavior problems, which are not bad in themselves but can be very tiring to handle! We were told that I had a chance of our third or fourth child having this same problem. When I was pregnant with our third child Joël - God explicitly said to me "I am He who comforts you" found in Isaiah 51:12.
Joël has truly proven to be a child of comfort for us - he was beautiful as a baby with gorgeous curls and is our first who has a heart for God too and has chosen to follow Him - that is truly a comfort to us!!
But the biggest promise I have received from God personally has become such a glorious truth for me because it has shown up in the most difficult periods of my life!! Whenever I needed God to intervene for me - He spoke this promise to me - whether it was in a daily reading, a card I would receive, or a telephone call.... Just when I needed it!!
The verse is this one Isaiah 41:10: "Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."
I received it from God the Father when I was at the lowest point I've ever been in my life (total burn-out) and he reassures me every time when I have nothing else but faith in His promises to pull me through. I really LOVE God, I praise and worship Him for His faithfulness, for His Intervention, for life itself - what a gift of GRACE to be His child and to receive His everlasting faithfulness through His Word which will always remain true - EVERYTHING will be shaken, but the WORD OF GOD will remain stable!

Quote from a devotional: Hearing God's voice may mean you have to sacrifice lesser things and tune out other voices, but you must do it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important than learning to recognize God's voice when He speaks to you.
Unquote

Write the promises down that God has personally spoken to you and proclaim them with your mouth which releases faith in your heart!

(The above photo was taken this morning in my garden - the lavender bushes are visited by a lot of these beautiful butterflies every day now. Please take a little look at the following post - I finally did another vintage card..)

Vintage heart

I thought that all my inspiration for vintage cards was gone so I had to try one! My eye fell on this Stampington stamp that I really love and haven't used for a while. I used distress ink to stamp it on PP and just went from there. How I love the vintage colours!