I have very sad news. My MIL only has a couple of months to live as after she had a breast removed in January, it is now in her liver... So tomorrow I will going to Holland with DH to sort of say goodbye. It is not going to be easy but it is a part of life we all have to face. She has been so very good to us. I have a better relationship with her, than my own mum. Her age - 81 years! So I think the Lord has given her many, many years on earth.
I would so appreciate your prayers! Thank you.
"My times are in your Hands."
Psalm 31:15
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Butterfly grid, Case study inspiration and the second 'A' ADMIRE
A lot has been happening here. Vivian who will be our daughter-in-law in September and her parents are here in France visiting. The weather is dreadful - rain, wind and gray skies nonstop at the moment.
First of all I want to share a picture of another type of Home Decor which I recently made by punching out butterflies. I really enjoyed doing this and it is so decorative when hung in the right environment.
And this is how it looks in a frame on the wall.
As you can see, I have another Grid design for sale in my Etsy shop, as well as some cards. I have sold five grids and it has made me very happy! The last one went to a lady in France, which was very exciting!
Before I share the second installment of the four 'A's, I want to share a tag card I made and which I think I will enter into a challenge which is running at the moment at Case Study. The inspiration photo is above, it was made by Aga, isn't it pretty?
This is my card, using all Hero Arts stamps, on a tag.
So here is the second 'A' which is ADMIRE your husband:
I am founding this with a quote from Scripture: Eph. 5:33 (Amplified version): ''and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband (that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him and loves and admires him exceedingly)."
Once again I am quoting from the book 'The Total Woman' by Marabel Morgan:
Quote:
It was Friday afternoon and Mr. Feelin’ Low glanced at the clock with mixed emotions. After a long, hard week he was glad that Friday had finally come. He looked forward to a hot shower and a hot dinner, but he dreaded facing the cold wife.
Friday afternoon meant a long weekend at home, just trading one headache for another. Something is missing, he thought. Is this all there is? Loneliness rolled over him in waves. Somewhere, someone must admire him, even if his own wife didn’t.
Starting from earliest childhood and continuing all through life, a man is recognized and applauded for his accomplishments and who doesn’t love that type of admiration? Women do, too. If your husband was a Big Man on Campus he probably has all sorts of trophies, stars and other special memorabilia. Have you noticed how a person will do almost anything for a star? Imagine that, grown men with stick-on-stars on their helmets!
A man’s most basic needs, outside of warm sexual love, are approval and admiration. A man tries to fill those crying needs in many ways. But a man longs for respect and personal admiration from his wife more than any other person. You can transform your husband by a few genuine words of encouragement. Your man, like many men all over the world, may be like an empty cup emotionally, unable to properly express his feelings to you. If you want to help him express himself, try filling up his cup with admiration. And when his cup runs over, guess who lives in the overflow!
For some men your attitude of indifference is the worst pain of all. We have to care about what they do and think! It is your highest privilege to assure him he is as special as he thinks he is! Your husband needs you to see him as he sees himself. For example, take a good look at him. As he grows older, his need for admiration grows stronger. With a balding head and protruding paunch comes the question, “Does she think I’m handsome?” He happens to love his body. It’s the only one he has and he lives in there. He wants you to love it too – so tell him! We can be honest and still meet his needs – there will always be something we can make a nice comment about and you will be surprised at the results!
UNQUOTE
Look how we creative ladies act when we see beautiful artwork – we run over with praise and admiration, and with all the commenting we do, it shouldn’t be too difficult to just continue off the blog towards our husbands and children! Say to DH for example, wow, you look gorgeous, that color tie so matches the color of your eyes! It’s just an example!
Even stronger, I believe that we women have to be on our guard to keep this alive in our marriages because the devil will always try and drive a wedge in a relationship because he knows if he gets that out of harmony, he steals the power out of families which results in a weakened Church. Let’s be on our guard and not allow the evil one to take away the praise from our mouths towards our husbands and children!
I think that is enough for this week! I hope you can relate to some of things I have written. I love the interaction it gives.
Jacqueline
First of all I want to share a picture of another type of Home Decor which I recently made by punching out butterflies. I really enjoyed doing this and it is so decorative when hung in the right environment.
And this is how it looks in a frame on the wall.
As you can see, I have another Grid design for sale in my Etsy shop, as well as some cards. I have sold five grids and it has made me very happy! The last one went to a lady in France, which was very exciting!
Before I share the second installment of the four 'A's, I want to share a tag card I made and which I think I will enter into a challenge which is running at the moment at Case Study. The inspiration photo is above, it was made by Aga, isn't it pretty?
This is my card, using all Hero Arts stamps, on a tag.
So here is the second 'A' which is ADMIRE your husband:
I am founding this with a quote from Scripture: Eph. 5:33 (Amplified version): ''and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband (that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him and loves and admires him exceedingly)."
Once again I am quoting from the book 'The Total Woman' by Marabel Morgan:
Quote:
It was Friday afternoon and Mr. Feelin’ Low glanced at the clock with mixed emotions. After a long, hard week he was glad that Friday had finally come. He looked forward to a hot shower and a hot dinner, but he dreaded facing the cold wife.
Friday afternoon meant a long weekend at home, just trading one headache for another. Something is missing, he thought. Is this all there is? Loneliness rolled over him in waves. Somewhere, someone must admire him, even if his own wife didn’t.
Starting from earliest childhood and continuing all through life, a man is recognized and applauded for his accomplishments and who doesn’t love that type of admiration? Women do, too. If your husband was a Big Man on Campus he probably has all sorts of trophies, stars and other special memorabilia. Have you noticed how a person will do almost anything for a star? Imagine that, grown men with stick-on-stars on their helmets!
A man’s most basic needs, outside of warm sexual love, are approval and admiration. A man tries to fill those crying needs in many ways. But a man longs for respect and personal admiration from his wife more than any other person. You can transform your husband by a few genuine words of encouragement. Your man, like many men all over the world, may be like an empty cup emotionally, unable to properly express his feelings to you. If you want to help him express himself, try filling up his cup with admiration. And when his cup runs over, guess who lives in the overflow!
For some men your attitude of indifference is the worst pain of all. We have to care about what they do and think! It is your highest privilege to assure him he is as special as he thinks he is! Your husband needs you to see him as he sees himself. For example, take a good look at him. As he grows older, his need for admiration grows stronger. With a balding head and protruding paunch comes the question, “Does she think I’m handsome?” He happens to love his body. It’s the only one he has and he lives in there. He wants you to love it too – so tell him! We can be honest and still meet his needs – there will always be something we can make a nice comment about and you will be surprised at the results!
UNQUOTE
Look how we creative ladies act when we see beautiful artwork – we run over with praise and admiration, and with all the commenting we do, it shouldn’t be too difficult to just continue off the blog towards our husbands and children! Say to DH for example, wow, you look gorgeous, that color tie so matches the color of your eyes! It’s just an example!
Even stronger, I believe that we women have to be on our guard to keep this alive in our marriages because the devil will always try and drive a wedge in a relationship because he knows if he gets that out of harmony, he steals the power out of families which results in a weakened Church. Let’s be on our guard and not allow the evil one to take away the praise from our mouths towards our husbands and children!
I think that is enough for this week! I hope you can relate to some of things I have written. I love the interaction it gives.
Jacqueline
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Back from Holland
Nice to be back! I was on a trip to Holland to participate in a conference with DH for the Church.
There was one lady I wanted to visit. Because she had sent me a card I knew her address and it so happened that I was staying in a place just round the corner from her! I wanted to surprise her, so Monday afternoon I visited Wilmi from 'Bezig en Blij'.
She has the most amazing craft room and we had a lovely time chatting and drinking tea and lovely cake, until it was time to fetch her son from school. Wilmi is one of the most creative women I have ever met and she is just a lovely person. Here is her craft space:
There is one word to describe everything I saw as she showed me around her house and her garden: gezellig! Which means cozy in English. I just love her style!
I also picked up some inspiration from her, which is the following. I only had two screw tops from bottles of vegetables available so I used them to make these. Wilmi had several, all different sizes on her wall and they looked gorgeous.
I cut out the round shape with a template, glued it into the lid and just added a digital butterfly from Hero Arts and it was ready. I was thinking of adding dimensional tape to the back to fix it to a wall, when I have got several done.
This is my second one, very easy to make and very decorative on the walls! Thanks Wilmi for your inspiration!
Another thing I love doing is cutting out butterflies when I am away because a lot of the time we are sitting down or waiting for something, so I like to be busy! I stamp the butterflies on lots of scraps before I leave. I was just getting started on this photograph.
When I got home there was a lovely package from Sue waiting for me with loads of scraps - but they are not just any kind of scraps, the most beautiful papers were in the envelope and some stamps - so thankful to you Sue! The card above is an indication of what she sent me and I used my freshly cut butterflies on it.
Then I got a little package from Dee - Dee is a lady who I met via Internet and we exchange e-mails quite a lot as she has the same sort of style as I have.
So that was it for today. You will probably remember that I shared about the first 'A' of Marriage - ACCEPTANCE in my last blog post. Within the next couple of days I will be sharing the second one, which is ADMIRE. So please be back to join me on that one!
Have a lovely day. We are free today, a National Holiday.
Jacqueline
There was one lady I wanted to visit. Because she had sent me a card I knew her address and it so happened that I was staying in a place just round the corner from her! I wanted to surprise her, so Monday afternoon I visited Wilmi from 'Bezig en Blij'.
She has the most amazing craft room and we had a lovely time chatting and drinking tea and lovely cake, until it was time to fetch her son from school. Wilmi is one of the most creative women I have ever met and she is just a lovely person. Here is her craft space:
There is one word to describe everything I saw as she showed me around her house and her garden: gezellig! Which means cozy in English. I just love her style!
I also picked up some inspiration from her, which is the following. I only had two screw tops from bottles of vegetables available so I used them to make these. Wilmi had several, all different sizes on her wall and they looked gorgeous.
I cut out the round shape with a template, glued it into the lid and just added a digital butterfly from Hero Arts and it was ready. I was thinking of adding dimensional tape to the back to fix it to a wall, when I have got several done.
This is my second one, very easy to make and very decorative on the walls! Thanks Wilmi for your inspiration!
Another thing I love doing is cutting out butterflies when I am away because a lot of the time we are sitting down or waiting for something, so I like to be busy! I stamp the butterflies on lots of scraps before I leave. I was just getting started on this photograph.
When I got home there was a lovely package from Sue waiting for me with loads of scraps - but they are not just any kind of scraps, the most beautiful papers were in the envelope and some stamps - so thankful to you Sue! The card above is an indication of what she sent me and I used my freshly cut butterflies on it.
Then I got a little package from Dee - Dee is a lady who I met via Internet and we exchange e-mails quite a lot as she has the same sort of style as I have.
So that was it for today. You will probably remember that I shared about the first 'A' of Marriage - ACCEPTANCE in my last blog post. Within the next couple of days I will be sharing the second one, which is ADMIRE. So please be back to join me on that one!
Have a lovely day. We are free today, a National Holiday.
Jacqueline
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Internet downloads
I'm just editing my last post as many of you have asked where I get my Internet images from and I should have given credit to the source which I did not think of doing. So here it is - I am passing on the Pinterest link so that you can see all that this lady has to offer!
and this is the one I used on my cards Tuesday.
Thanks Astrid for your beautiful artwork that you give for free!
See you next week!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sharing
So now you can see that I actually have some hair again because I changed my photo! I am so happy I don't have to cover my head anymore and that I didn't turn gray. The quality of my hair is good too, I am so thankful!
Now, I'm in a pink mood, so two pink cards
This one uses the same free download as the card underneath. The added papers, bird, heart, postmark etc. were in my scrap basket.
This one uses the same free download as the card underneath. The added papers, bird, heart, postmark etc. were in my scrap basket.
This is using a collage cling stamp from Hero Arts. I stamped on a free download from the Internet and then I stamped the butterfly separately on PP for a bit of dimension.
I was thinking of going back and sharing some of my Meditation Monday messages. Just recently we held a seminar in our Church about Christian Marriage and I handled the wife's side. So I'm going to share about the four 'A's - Accept, Adapt, Admire and Appreciate! Of course the man has his side, but I'm not going into that.
ACCEPT
Next week I hope to share something on the second ‘A’ – ADMIRE.
I hope you liked it!
This is a photo I took Sunday. It was such nice weather we went for a drive through the countryside and discovered a field full of these wild orchids. The flowers look like little dolls with arms and legs.
Jacqueline
ACCEPT
I’m giving the floor to Marabel Morgen who has given me kind permission to quote here from her book ‘The Total Woman’.
Quote
Most of us marry a man with every intention of changing him. Then we spend years of married life trying to do just that – round off the edges, suggest what he should do, and how he should act. Why are we such fools? It never works! The poor husband crawls into his shell to protect himself from the onslaught, vowing never to communicate with this relentless woman who was once his bride.
A man needs to be accepted as he is, just exactly as he is. This kind of all-out acceptance convinces him you really love him. His need for total acceptance isn’t so strange. I need to feel accepted too. Do you have a special friend who will listen to your innermost heart and accept you, without fear of rejection, criticism or advice? Can you do less for your husband?
Unfortunately, I’m a nag by nature. I don’t mean to be! Nagging is my occupational hazard. All day long I direct my kids: “Pick up your clothes, brush your teeth and don’t get out of bed. When my husband walks in the door, I just naturally continue my commands: “Take out the garbage, be kind to my mother, smile at people, etc. One thing is sure, nagging doesn’t bring results! Nagging never kept anyone alive. It has, however, killed many marriages. A man considers being nagged at worse than being nibbled to death by a duck.
Some women don’t nag verbally, but their non-accepting vibrations communicate loud and clear. Tolerance is not acceptance and only makes your husband feel incomplete and unworthy. He can sense when he’s not being accepted or manipulated and is not able to love you fully.
Our strength for accepting our husbands lies in the fact that God accepts us as we are and even though we don’t deserve it, His love is unconditional. Because He accepts us, through His power we can love and accept our husbands. If you have lost this love for your husband, ask God to restore it!
Your husband needs your acceptance most of all during his times of apparent failure. If he’s already low, don’t put him down further; Never compare him with another man and remember he’ll never confide in you if he feels that you are being critical.
Your man needs to feel important, loved and accepted. Make his home his haven, a place to which he can run. Allow him that priceless luxury of unqualified acceptance.
Unquote
I have not quoted the whole story here, just taken out certain details. I can really recommend her book. You
can order it so easily via ‘Amazon Books’ (they also carry cheaper second hand versions) and have it in your home within a week!Quote
Most of us marry a man with every intention of changing him. Then we spend years of married life trying to do just that – round off the edges, suggest what he should do, and how he should act. Why are we such fools? It never works! The poor husband crawls into his shell to protect himself from the onslaught, vowing never to communicate with this relentless woman who was once his bride.
A man needs to be accepted as he is, just exactly as he is. This kind of all-out acceptance convinces him you really love him. His need for total acceptance isn’t so strange. I need to feel accepted too. Do you have a special friend who will listen to your innermost heart and accept you, without fear of rejection, criticism or advice? Can you do less for your husband?
Unfortunately, I’m a nag by nature. I don’t mean to be! Nagging is my occupational hazard. All day long I direct my kids: “Pick up your clothes, brush your teeth and don’t get out of bed. When my husband walks in the door, I just naturally continue my commands: “Take out the garbage, be kind to my mother, smile at people, etc. One thing is sure, nagging doesn’t bring results! Nagging never kept anyone alive. It has, however, killed many marriages. A man considers being nagged at worse than being nibbled to death by a duck.
Some women don’t nag verbally, but their non-accepting vibrations communicate loud and clear. Tolerance is not acceptance and only makes your husband feel incomplete and unworthy. He can sense when he’s not being accepted or manipulated and is not able to love you fully.
Our strength for accepting our husbands lies in the fact that God accepts us as we are and even though we don’t deserve it, His love is unconditional. Because He accepts us, through His power we can love and accept our husbands. If you have lost this love for your husband, ask God to restore it!
Your husband needs your acceptance most of all during his times of apparent failure. If he’s already low, don’t put him down further; Never compare him with another man and remember he’ll never confide in you if he feels that you are being critical.
Your man needs to feel important, loved and accepted. Make his home his haven, a place to which he can run. Allow him that priceless luxury of unqualified acceptance.
Unquote
I have not quoted the whole story here, just taken out certain details. I can really recommend her book. You
Next week I hope to share something on the second ‘A’ – ADMIRE.
I hope you liked it!
This is a photo I took Sunday. It was such nice weather we went for a drive through the countryside and discovered a field full of these wild orchids. The flowers look like little dolls with arms and legs.
Jacqueline
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Cards, flowers and food!
Hi dear friends. I have to tell you that I sold four Grid designs in the mean time. I was so encouraged! I have another three for sale in my Etsy shop.
Now I am working on a huge project for our bedroom as the picture we had lost its glass and the color was off, so.... I am making an inchie creation which has a frame of 76,5x61 cm!
Here is a sneak peek.. I am just adhering the squares straight over the poster. I did quite a bit today too, so I'm half way.
This card was made with a new stamp called the Classic Fabric design from Hero Arts, it is a cling. I stamped over a patterned paper scrap with the Carte Postale stamp for the centre and added a butterfly which was part of the leftover from the scrap.
A couple of flower photos from my garden. This is a Papavar, it grows like the Poppy, I think that is the right name in English. It took a while before they opened, but they are gorgeous.
This is a huge shrub in front of our bedroom window, when the window is open we can smell the scent, which is lovely.
To finish I took a picture of the Paëlla I made yesterday evening. Isn't it colorful? It is a huge pan full of fish, rice etc. which recipe is originally from Spain. We all love it. The dish is huge.
Thanks for your lovely visits!
Jacqueline
Now I am working on a huge project for our bedroom as the picture we had lost its glass and the color was off, so.... I am making an inchie creation which has a frame of 76,5x61 cm!
Here is a sneak peek.. I am just adhering the squares straight over the poster. I did quite a bit today too, so I'm half way.
This card was made with a new stamp called the Classic Fabric design from Hero Arts, it is a cling. I stamped over a patterned paper scrap with the Carte Postale stamp for the centre and added a butterfly which was part of the leftover from the scrap.
A couple of flower photos from my garden. This is a Papavar, it grows like the Poppy, I think that is the right name in English. It took a while before they opened, but they are gorgeous.
This is a huge shrub in front of our bedroom window, when the window is open we can smell the scent, which is lovely.
To finish I took a picture of the Paëlla I made yesterday evening. Isn't it colorful? It is a huge pan full of fish, rice etc. which recipe is originally from Spain. We all love it. The dish is huge.
Thanks for your lovely visits!
Jacqueline
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