I share and explore spiritual experiences, travel to places of newfound peace, comfort, and joy through faithbased mixed media art, art journaling and scrapbooking.
a faithart journal, as I grow and learn about Jesus the One and Only from Beth Moore. Supplies: blank art journal, gesso, texture items, stamps. collage from magazines, glue, stickers, Stazon ink.
My art journal is finished. Watch my process and the finished book from start to finish. Ever wonder how to do a art journal based on a book? This will tell you my process and you can see my completed faithart journal. Took 2 videos. Here is part 1 of 2
Part 2 of Captivating
Our Northern VA group has finished meeting, but the rest of the group is still working on their books. I hope to create videos of their books soon.
Thanks Pattie Ann for prompting us on this God Journey!
This is a great book Captivating, so insightful and helpful to refocus me and to provide healing in those areas where my pain is a deterent to my walk with Christ. We are part of a large group on Facebook that is doing an online journaling class led by Patti Hale.
I am leading a small local group here in Northern VA and we meet weekly to discuss the chapters and to work on our art journals. Here are some pictures of my group ( missing Michelle) God is binding us together in a deeper way and we are drawing closer to Him.
Here are some pictures of my pages and my cover. I worked for about 3 days on the cover. I had inspiration from Anna ( from Poland) and this is my version.
First I collage a lot of papers onto the cardboard covers. Sprayed with Adirondack inks and Glimmer mist inks. Added some creme color paint to tone it down, and then sprayed a gloss varnish over it all.
The embellishments: I wanted to create a "cross" of embellishments that would signify the love of God in my life. I cut up a old frame and used them on the right and left side, then added wooden cut out designs ( I found at Michaels a long time ago) as the top and bottom of the cross. I used alcohol inks on the plastic letters. I included a pearl heart as the inside of the flower. Added lost of other metal embellishments and glued them with a hot glue gun. Masked off the rest of the cover and used Glimmer mist spray on the embellishment. I wanted to stitch on the outside edges, but I used really think cardboard ( the covers from my watercolor pads) so used my Tim Holtz stitching stamp instead.
Here is the back of th e front cover and the inside and outside of the back cover. I am planning on connecting my book with wire bound using my Cinch.
I can't believe that I missed posting this great class!
The class was called Inspiration Showcase with Jennifer McGuire. Even though the class is over, you can still take the class at your own pace. I highly recomend it! It is a great technique class. Here is the link. She also has a new Christmas Card class starting soon.
Here is the canvas I made. I loved doing each heart technique.
I wanted to share a blog hop that demo's stencils today! I love stencils and Julie Balzer has designed some new ones for Crafters Workshop. So, please stop by and check out the blogs that share stencil love in art journaling, scrapbooking and canvas work! Start with Julie at Balzer designs and see some great work, and videos!
Welcome to the God's Promises Faith Blog Hop If you arrived here from Jessie's blog you are in the right place. If you just arrived at my blog, you should go to Paper Tree House Studio (www.mypapertreehouse.blogspot.com) in order to start at the beginning. Every month a group of brave women get together to showcase the Glory of God. This month we want to showcase His faithfulness during trying times, so kick back, relax and let the Lord touch your heart with His Truth!
Did you know that there are 1260 promises in the Bible? I did not count them myself, but am blown away by the fact that each and every promise the Lord gives, He is faithful to fulfill. It is pretty easy to believe this when times are easy and abundance surrounds our lives, but is that the same when trouble hits?
The Bible says that our hearts are deceitful above all things and then it adds WHO CAN TRUST IT? Have you ever considered that maybe the reason why we don't trust God is because we spend more time looking at how big the waves in our lives have become and forget that God created the entire UNIVERSE with just His breath... Think about it, the Lord spoke the ENTIRE World into existence... the only thing created that was made with His hands was man and woman. That is why He says that if He provides for the birds and the plants, how much more to His children? You are precious to the Lord and He will not fail you, even when it feels He might.
In this hop you will read the stories of women like you that have faced trouble and probably even lacked the faith to believe in the miracle the Lord performed at the very end! Our prayer is that you would open your heart to the Truth found in these promises and that you would even share with us what God has done in your life. Your victory may become our hope... :)
During the hop you will find many chances to win prizes! All you have to do to be considered for one of those prizes is leave a comment and become a follower of the blogs you will hop through. For the Grand Prizes , make sure to leave a comment, become a follower, and "LIKE" Paper Tree House on Facebook. This will allow you to find out about future hops we will be having.
Here are the brave women that dared to share their stories:
Paper Tree House Studio: Exclusive PDF file tutorial for Mini-Book Taught at CHA.
K Andrew Stamps: Stamp Set
Tombow: Grand Adhesive Set
God's Fulfilled Promise in my life
God fulfilled his promises to me in a huge way 6 years ago when He asked me to step out in faith and adopt three young girls (sisters) from Ukraine.
I identify with the apostle Paul. His personal encounter with Jesus changed his life. He never lost his fierce intensity, but from then on it was channeled for the gospel. I am a passionate person, and try to focus my passions so I can be sensitive to God’s leading. I want to do what God directs me, although my strong personality wrestles with HIM a lot of the time. For the first 5 years after accepting Jesus as my savior I did what I wanted to do and my life spiraled downward. I just did not want to let go of
My anger - My will - My preoccupations - My favorite distractions- My priority list - My view of the world and My short sighted view of God.
After a suicide attempt and a failing second marriage, I felt God calling me to HIM. This was a heart pulling, come to me call. I felt like God was crooking his finger to me saying- “Come, Come to me, leave him to me. You come.”
He asked me to let go of my control, and be with HIM. I isolated myself, let go of my illusion of control over my life and focused on the Bible and spending time with God. He was so patient with me; he put his arms around me, comforted me and confronted me. The Psalms were a balm to my intense sorrow and pain. It was during that desert experience, that I came to know Jesus as my Lord. He removed my bondage to self and opened my heart to loving HIM. He restored my soul, my relationship with my children and my self esteem. I began to fall deeply in love with Jesus and for the first time in my life felt loved – Loved by the One who gave me grace and loved me no matter what I had done. There was nothing I could do to earn his love; all I had to do was accept it. He loved me more than any human had ever loved me.
JESUS became the LOVER OF MY SOUL
During that desert time, my 2nd husband and I separated and I moved into a house alone with my 2 sons and began to re-build my life- this time I put God first, my children second and me last. I had to repair my relationship with my children and with God.
Most everything in my life fell apart during this time. Although as I now know it was
falling together in his plan.
Let me tell you of all the events that were rearranged and re-prioritized in my life. I was laid off from 3 jobs during the next 18 months. There were days I had no money to pay bills and God would provide a refund of something I had forgotten, or a temporary job that paid well. I was having difficulty finding an affordable house so my sons would not have to switch schools, and God led me to a rental house through a bible study partner at $1000 less per month than any other in the neighborhood.
God promises became real to me. "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:7-9
I started to see him working in my life with my children, there was healing and rebuilding. I had to depend on him for my daily bread- my job, family, home, money. I learned how to pray- oh I though I knew what prayer was and how to do it, but I learned to be quiet before God and wait for him to speak to me. Each time I approached God about my marriage situation, He told me to not divorce my husband, to wait. I waited for 5 years. In the beginning I asked God frequently how long do I wait? One time He answered me with Psalm 40 “I waited patiently for the Lord and he turned and heard my cry.” And another time was Psalm 6My soul find rest in God alone, my salvation comes from Him. Find rest o my soul in God alone.”2 “
During that waiting time I kept praying to God about what now- what do I DO to bide my time waiting for a sign about the outcome of my second marriage. He had started pruning and was changing me. I still wanted to know “Now what?” What can I do for you God? That wonderful song, “Lead me Lord, I will follow” kept running through my soul. I felt old, used up and couldn’t possibly see how he could use me.
He had a plan for me that would take me to the other side of the world, that would force me to depend on Him, to change my life totally. To hear the rest of that story go here
I am still a DOER, although now I hope that my doing is more about doing for HIM in ways He calls me than in doing what Diane wants. I share my testimony because I want to give all the credit for all the good I have done to the one who gave it all for me- Jesus. His promises remind me how much He loves me and wants the best for me and for what He has sacrificed so that I can have eternal life.
Thank you Jesus for rescuing this sinner.
My full story is here on my blog @ Testimony Thursday, and the movie of the adoption album is here.
Thanks for hopping through this faith hop. Know that we are praying for you and really hope your eyes are opened to the Truth about the Lord's Faithfulness! :)
Ok, last week I showed you the vacation journal box that my girls and I made in preparation for our Florida vacation. This week I wanted to show you a few other vacation journals/scrapbooks that I have done and you can do with purchased scrapbooks.
Today is a glorious day! The weather is wonderful, I feel free, light and proud.
Last night Vera and I were invited to attend a reception for the new Ukraine Deputy Director of the SDA ( which is the government adoption agency). She is here with 2 other officials meeting US government contacts and adoptive families learning more about Ukraine and USA adoption practices. It was an honor to meet her and to share a little bit of our adoption story.
My pride comes from my 17 year old daughter Vera. She was able to speak Russian and some Ukrainian to the Director and her team. Not only speak with them, but she ended up translating for the other families who don't speak Russian! Now most of you don't understand the context of that accomplishment, so let me share why this is a key milestone in Vera's life.
Vera was 11 years old when she came to America 5 years ago and only spoke Ukrainian, If you are over 40 in Ukraine, you speak Russian and under 40 speak Ukrainian. Vera was illiterate when she came to America just 5 years ago, meaning she had a working vocabulary of Ukrainian ( approximately 100 words) but no grammer or written education. We placed her in public school for the first year (6th grade). I determined that she was so lacking in the basic skills, and public school just doesn't have the ability to teach older children elementary level work, so we needed to go back to the beginning with her education. I homeschooled her starting with 2nd grade level work. In 18 months she went through 2-6 grade and then in Feb of 2010 went back to public school in 9th grade. She finished the 2nd semester of 9th grade, took summer school last year for Algebra and then in the fall of 2010 was a rising 10th grader. She signed up for Russian, not ever having Russian language skills. Within a few months the Russian teacher moved her from level 1 to level 2 and made her the class assistant for the level 2 students! She was asked to perform in the Olympiadia in the spring of this year, and not only passed the 3nd level but was awarded the top student in the state of VA for Russian level 3! She is considered a heritage speaker and that is why she had to compete at level 3.
Last night, she demonstrated a maturity and confidence that was a remarkable accomplishment!
God reminded me how he had a plan for my life and for Vera and how when I listened to Him and followed Him, His plans come to fruition! Jeremiah 29:11-14 says
" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
He rescued me from my captivity of self that I lived in for most of my life. His goodness, His mercy and his love were given to me as I did what he gave me a mission to do- adopt 3 girls from Ukraine, teach them, support them, love them and give them a hope and a future. He did that for them through me. It makes all the difficulties, challenges and tears worthwhile when I see my daughter blossom and shine for God.
Sorry for the delay, taught a new class last night to 8 wonderful ladies, and had to create the video today for Technique Tuesday.
Mini Albums are a great way to start scrapbooking and a good gift. They are small, so you can create one quickly. They keep you focused- there is a beginning and an end. Great way to use up left over papers, and photos!
Have you ever made an accordion/exploding scrapbook? They are such a fun project and a gret gift for someone.
To learn how to make this accordion exploding scrapbook watch the 2 part video.
I was organizing my studio the other day and came across some of my mini scrapbooks. I loved looking at them,and realized they are a great example of simple techniques to share with you today.
In the video, I show you how to use a mini photo album as the basis of a scrapbook. Check out the dollar stores, Wal-Mart and other discount stores for photo albums. You can use them to alter into a scrapbook, or create a gift book of quotes, bible verses, etc.
Have you tried to make a paper bag album? They are so cute, easy and inexpensive! Use brown lunch paper bags - for the grungy look- white lunch bags with your scrapbook paper, colored lunch bags with white bags inside for a cute girly look.
File Folders- use 5-7 file folders, punch holes for a spine and tie pretty ribbons as the binding mechanism.
Welcome to another special Faith Blog Hop sponsored by Paper Tree House Studio! You should have arrived here from Carolyn http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.com/ if you are following the hop. If you just happen to have fallen here go to the beginning of the hop over at paper Tree House Studio. Paper Tree House Studio: www.mypapertreehouse.com
At the end of every month a group of bold women gather to give Glory to God with the talents He has given us in a very loud way... :) Our prayer is that through the projects we have created you Will be able to see Him in all of His Glory! May He touch you today as we look at the theme of the Proverbs 31 woman, and may you find that you are indeed everything He designed you to be.
This is how the hop works: There are many beautiful and brave women that are ready to show their weaknesses in order that you may see His strength. :) Follow the line-up and please leave some love throughout the way. Allow yourself to cry, laugh, smile, along with any other emotion the Lord may bring your way. You will find that there are many prizes throughout the hop. In order to qualify to receive them you must be a follower of the blog and you must leave a comment. Know that if you are announced as the winner of a prize you are responsible for contacting us in order for us to make the prize go your way.
Here are our sponsors:
Paper Tree House Studio: Scrapbooking Kit (valued at $45) Tombow: Amazing Adhesive Pack Scrapbook News and Review: 1 year subscription to their magazine. Punky Sprouts: Sweetie Album Sweet Stamper: Stampin' Up Stamp Set
Now let's get the hop started! :)
The woman described in Proverbs 31 seems to be perfect! She works hard for her family, keeps up with the house, makes sure that the entire family is fed, is respected by others and her husband, and the list goes on... It can be very overwhelming to try to attain her status- which leaves many of us feeling as though we do not amount to God's standards. If you are anything like me, you too have felt as though there is always something that is just not right in your womanhood. Maybe you are not sweet enough, or neat enough, or submissive enough, or clean enough... Whatever label you do not amount to it can leave you feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.
God did not put this part of Scripture in the Bible so that we would draw away from Him filled with shame due to our incapacity to do what He expects of us. On the contrary, I have become every day more certain that He inspired these words because He wants to show us His Grace. The truth is: we all fall short of the Glory of God and there is not even one that is good amongst us. He KNEW this when He made us and when He decided to save us- and in this He loved us.
The proverbs 31 woman is meant to be a reminder of how much we need Christ! God desires that we would be women like the one portrayed there, and He knew that these areas would be our weaknesses, so He gave us this map of virtues so that we would not conform to the world but allow Him to transform us. The Bible teaches that in our weaknesses He is strong! My prayer is that you would allow the Lord to show you those areas where you indeed fail so that in turn you would learn to be mesmerized by His great strength. You will be doing things you never imagined when you fully rely on Him. In Him you already are the Proverbs 31 Woman you so desire to be. May He show you that truth today as He heals you from all insecurities.
My project is "a woman who fears the Lord". I was captured by the 30th verse in Proverbs 31.
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
Fearing the Lord sounds so bad! What does it actually mean? I looked up fear in my Bible dictionary. fear: " a feeling of reverence, awe, and respect or an unpleasant emotion caused by a sense of danger. Fear may be directed toward God or man, and it may be either be healthy or harmful."
I guess that I only understood the harmful fear, not the healthy fear. So, when I fear the Lord I am offering reverence, respect and awe of Him. I feel the awe when I raise my hands to Him and offer him my heart. So my tag shows a woman in awe of the God who created her and loves her.
Technique & Supplies:
manilla tag- #8 (3 1/8 x 6 1/8")
Sizzix embossing plate "Rays"- emboss half the tag
Emboss 1/2 of the tag, add script writing beneath the embossing, use a corner stamp in the same color ink. Using distress ink (rusty hinge) I added the woman with hands lifted in praise as a stencil. ( this is fron a picture I found in a Discipleship journal that I copied and reduced and then cut out). Direct to paper technique for adding the color to the rays. Edged the tag with vintage photo ink, distressed the edges, type from my computer with the verse. Added lace that I sprayed with glimmer mist to match the color scheme and a string of 1/2 pearls ( from a fabric store). I added some gold Pearl Ex on top of the orange rays to give it shimmer. You could use glimmer mist on top as well.
Thanks for stopping by on the blog hop. May God bless you and keep you!
Your next stop is Karel www.kareljcreations.com . Remember to leave a comment on this post if you want to be considered for one of the Grand Prizes. :)
I love to create topical scrapbooks. I am always on the look out for a unique vehicle to use. You know those pocket folders that you have to have for school? In the fall they go on sale for 10 to15cents each. Pick up some of them and use them when you have a short topic you want to cover.
A few years ago my pastor Rusty gave a message about how we use our time. The time we have left. It was titled Life's Too Short. If I live to 80, that sounds so far away, but it was only 8,566 days left!!! That is so not enough for me to live out His plans for me.
I used 4-5 coordinating papers, covered the front, back and insides of the folder with the papers. I cut up the message notes and inserted some of the wording and picture ( a giant clock).
I like to type a lot of bible verses and headings on my computer. A nifty way to add them to a scrapbook or journal is to make your own stickers. Print on Avery Full Sheet labels ( 8 1/2 x 11 clear). I have lots of fonts and create files with my bible verses and words, titles and print them and make my own stickers.
The pocket file folders are great for adding notes to myself, or papers I want to keep from a message at church, notes from a friend, or a seminar, or special pages from my children.
Keep you mind open to the possibilities!
Here is another folder project. Romans 8. This one I created mini folders and added them. Created lots more workspace.
Since this is difficult to photograph, I created a short video to walk you through the mini books and journaling.
Zach and I arrived in Ukraine summer of 2005. We made our way via a 6 hour bus ride to Rivne, where our mission team works in the orphanages. After a lot of calling and negotiating, we were able to find Vera - she was not at the orphanage, but at a summer camp.
So we went there and surprised her! Seeing Vera again was such a moment to remember! These are the first pictures of our meeting her and Natalya. She was so excited to see me and Zach again, and her sister Natalya was with her at a camp too. The hope in her eyes was worth everything I had been through so far and confirmed that this was the right thing to do. God intervened and allowed us to take Vera and Natalya out of the camp and stay with us for the entire week we were in Rivne in our hotel. It was so precious to see them together- all three of them were in separate orphanages and did not get to see each other. Each morning we went to Deanna’s orphanage to work with the mission team and Vera and Natalya came with us.
The worst hour of my life was when we had to take them back to the camp on Friday morning and say goodbye. How do you say goodbye and not promise something you may not be able to deliver? I did not know at that point if I would be approved for adoption, and if I would ever see them again. So, we had to say goodbye by saying I would TRY to come back !
Trying was not in my vocabulary, remember I am a doer. But I was cautious and did not want to hurt the girls. We shed so many tears and with sad hearts we left and came back to America. I received 2 letters from the girls a few weeks later, while I was doing all the paperwork, but they did not know that I was trying to come and adopt them and I had no way of contacting them to give them updates.
So while I was proceeding with this complicated adoption process, God was teaching me to demonstrate my faith and trust in HIM and my dependence on HIM alone. The first day back home in America I found out that my company was doing a reorganization and I may lose my position. Wow, another chance for God to reveal HIS plan for me and for me to depend and trust him.! This really scared me as I had already committed to pursuing the adoption. This company had a adoption reimbursement policy of $5000 per child that you adopt, which I had planned to cover the expenses.
I did lose my position, but one of the vendors I worked with offered me a great position at more money and I accepted it. He also promised me $ for the adoption, so it seemed all was back on track. I went ahead and took out a loan against my 401k and was prepared and waiting for the date to go to Ukraine. We spent the next few months remodeling our rental home to create another bedroom and waiting. Waiting- it was getting comfortable now.
Christmas 2005 came, my son Andrew was delivered safely home from Iraq. Praise the Lord! I was waiting ( had been for 4 months) for my appointment date. Then 2 weeks in to January the very small company I worked for reorganized and laid me off with a 1 week severance package. At first, I though life seemed to be conspiring against me to complete this adoption. But I soon understood that all of this was just God showing me that HE was in control, not me, and that it would be evidence that he made all these things happen for his glory and honor, and nobody could say – wow Diane is so great, look what she is doing on her own!
So, now I had no job, no funds to do the adoption, no car (because I had a company car) and what do I do now? Was the devil making this happen, was I supposed to not do this????
I did something I had never done before in my life. Instead of giving up, or getting depressed, or going blindly ahead, I asked a small group of people from church to come to a prayer vigil at my house. I asked them to listen to all the information and give me wise counsel on what they thought I should do.
They believed that God was in control, he had asked me to follow him and do this and his plan would come to fruition if I trusted him totally. We came up with a plan for me to ask my company to honor their commitment to provide the money for the adoption and I went and humbly asked. It was uncomfortable for me because I hate to not be in a position of power, but I went and asked sincerely and with no malice. A week later they called me and told me to come and pick up a check for $10,000.
God was in control! This provided me the money to live on and then all I needed to do was get the funds to complete the adoption. I was blessed by New Hope when a generous family offered me a used car. I had borrowed the money from my 401k plan, but when you leave a company you have to pay it back or take a 50% penalty in taxes. There was one other option, return the borrowed funds to my 401k plan, and get it whole, and borrow the money from someone else, until I could get a new job, take a new loan out and return the money.
Now, here is where God works miracles! My son Andrew had saved all of his army money and he had $39,000 in the bank. He offered to loan me the $20,000 I needed to go and complete the adoption! God had provided again, his way in his time. God had sent my son to Iraq, had protected him, and softened his heart to participate in HIS plan for our lives.
I love reading this, and remembering God's provision in my life. It was good that I wrote all this down a few years ago so that all the little details and intricacies that were woven together would not be forgotten.
Next week, going to Ukraine to adopt my three daughters~
I love little gifts that I can make and keep on hand to give to that special someone. You will love today's technique! This is Vera's first technique video.
We call them "Mini-Marvels". They are made from a sheet of 12x12 double sided scrapbook paper.
If you have a scorboard tool, it makes it really easy to make them. I got mine from AC Moore with a 40% off coupon.
The mini book has 8 pockets inside- we love to add bible verses for our friends. You could crop some pictures and keep it as a little picture book in your purse or write little notes to your friend with pictures.
Join me as I share my journey with God on testimony Thursday's.
He has taken me down a path and pruned, pushed, led, pulled and changed me. He has strengthened my character, given me a special ministry, given me a testimony and created a new family which changed the lives of 3 little girls. The Lord wanted to work in my life and as soon as I got out of His way and surrendered to Him, His blessings and unmistakable mark was on my life.
Discovering His will is a daily process of trust. His word has provided the comprehensive guide for my life the past 11 years. I have discovered His desired will through circumstances and prayer. He was actively guiding every incident of my life in order to stitch the in-congruent "threads" together for my good.
"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
A sense of peace always accompanied my obeying His will even when I did not know how things were going to go. I had to surrender my body, mind, soul , self-control and money. The miracles I experienced have been confirmation that His ways always reveal a way for Him to get the glory and honor.
Observer the path I have walked with God from my first mission trip i 2004, bringing Vera to America, my son going to war in Iraq, losing 2 jobs within 7 months, and 12 months of waiting to adopt. God revealed His plan for my life little by little and only gave me enough information that I needed for the moment. Later I could see His hand and how everything worked together to bless me and my family and bring Him glory.
May God use my testimony to touch your heart and to understand His ways.