Key to my Heart

Help! This card needs something but I'm not sure what.

My new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge arrived today, so I immediately had to play. It's going to make those fun round cards so much easier.

After coloring my lock and key, I sponged them with a VersaMark ink and sprinkled brass embossing powder over them. I didn't want to cover the entire area.

I tissue stamped the heart and then covered it with clear embossing powder so it would shine brighter than the lock and key. I also touched the edges with Pear ink...not really sure why.

Lots of sanding on this to dull down the colors against the brass. I also touched up the edges of my ribbon with a Pear marker because the green was more on the blue side.

And after all that, I still think it needs help.

However, that won't keep me from entering it in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday 206
Heart 2 Heart Color Challenge: Sorbet, Pear and Cocoa

If you have any ideas (or if you think I'm being too critical of my own work), leave me a comment. I could sure use the help.

Until next time,
Becca

First Things First

Gen. 1:1-2 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."

The first two things God wants us to know about Him are these: 1) even in the darkest places, where there is nothing--absolutely nothing--good or light or worthwhile, He is there; and 2) He can create life from nothingness.

Do you ever feel like you life is formless and void? Like your marriage is full of nothingness? Your soul is a pit of darkness? Even there, God is with you. Ps. 139:7, 11-12 "Where can I go from Thy Spirit?...If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,' even  the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee."

Maybe it's your own, stupid fault you are in this deep, dark pit. What about then? Surely, if you deserve it, God isn't there. Wrong! Take it from the guy who wrote the above verse in Psalms.

David messed up big time. He didn't go to war with his army like he was supposed to do. Instead, he's peeping over rooftops at naked women. He spies Bathsheba, has her brought to him so he can have sex with her, and when she comes back later to tell him she's pregnant (and there ain't no way it's anyone but David's because her husband is off at war), David has the husband killed so he can marry Bathsheba and try to make the baby legitimate. While that child died, do you know what other child came from their union? Solomon. The richest, wisest ruler who reined during Israel's heyday. The one who built the Temple of God. This guy was only alive because of a marriage founded on lust, adultery, deception and murder, and he is the greatest King Israel ever had...the one whom God entrusted to build His center of worship.

There is nowhere you can be where God is not with you, even in the depths of hell, He is there (Ps. 139:8). There is nothing so dark He cannot see you through it. There is nothing you have done which He cannot take and turn into beautiful worship. There is no dryness of soul, no barrenness of feeling, no void of emotion He cannot take and, from it, create life.

Abundant life.

Life everlasting.

For in the beginning God created, and He is still creating today.

Until next time,
Becca

Time for Cocoa

I am anxiously awaiting my new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I am going to have SO MUCH FUN with that. While I wait, I have been playing with the cartridges I do have. The cup is from the "Graphically Speaking" cartridge; swirly embossing from Cuttlebug, but all the rest is CTMH (Crystal Blue and Cocoa papers, "Sip" stamp set).

No challenges to enter with this one, but I still wanted to share it with you. I made my son and husband admire every detail...from the liquid glass making my cup look porcelain, the liquid applique giving my cocoa a whipped cream topping, and the spoon sticking out. Each time I pointed out a new detail, my son repeated (with increasing impatience), "I told you I liked it." My husband (who has had more training) simply kept repeating the required phrase..."Ooooh. Ahhhh." Gotta love men!

The pennant was made by punching the ends with one spoke of a star. Pretty clever, if I do say so myself. Hee!

Well...off do do some writing. If my men are not great at admiring pretty cards, they ARE great at villains. We brainstormed into the wee hours of the morning, and some nagging plot details got worked out. It does concern me - just a little - how well those two can come up with madness and mayhem. :)

Until next time,
Becca

Laughing at Myself

I am great at giving advice. Got tons of it. I shovel it over anyone who wants a little. Probably over those who don't want any, too. Okay...I hear you. Drop the "probably" out of that sentence.

I can even give great advice to myself...doesn't mean I'll do anything with it, though.

For example, when I first started this blog, one of the Bible studies was on Abraham's servant and how, regardless of the outcome, his obedience was all the success he needed. Well...here I am to tell you that I do not live that truth. I am a perfectionist. An all or nothing kind of girl. And I want a guaranteed success at the end of the journey in order for me to feel it's worth taking more than a few steps down the path.

Today, my husband and I started a Bible study on grace. While answering the discussion questions, we meandered onto this question: What does God's approval look like?

For me, the answer is a straight, easy path. Now I know that isn't right. I know it. But the minute I encounter resistance, I'm wondering if God is really for this path. Knowing what I do, I'll go a little further, but much more resistance and I'm going to sit down and not move. Because the problem with being an "all or nothing" person is, too often, it results in me doing nothing. Sitting down. Not moving. Waiting for God to make the path easy before I move again.

But if God's approval doesn't look like a straight, easy path, what does it look like. I don't know.

Do you?

Until next time,
Becca