CRAFTING HEARTS IN CZECH REPUBLIC

 This week Jeff and I have been in Prague, Czech Republic for The Mid-Atlantic Missionary Conference.  It was so good to spend the week with old friends and new ones and to be fed with the blessed words from our BMAA missions director John David Smith and also one of our stateside pastors, Clif Johnson.  What a blessing they were.  As you see above, the ladies did a break-out one evening to have some fun.

 These are a couple sample hearts I did to get them started.

 I don't know who did this one, but it sure is pretty. 

 This pretty piece was done by our missionary care director's wife, Sue Kidd.  Hasn't she got the most beautiful smile?

 Rachel Cross, left, came in from France and Jerene Reddin, from Arkansas, blessed us with her music ministry all week long.

 Jasmin Nahapetyan, came in from Armenia and did a pretty piece. You can see it better in the shot below.  Jasmin in Armenia starts with an H.

 Isn't that pretty?  We all had fun layering with doilies, more hearts, silk flowers and beaded buttons and earring backs.  This is how I use some of the old jewelry people send me.

 This one was done by Celia Broom who came in from Ghana, Africa.  Someone said it looked like and owl.  Who doesn't love owls, right?  They are so popular now it seems.

Our whole group of ladies representing the U.S., Romania, France, Armenia and Jordan.  I love doing this and we all had such a great time.  Thank you to all who send materials that allows me the privilege of this ministry.  You are a blessing to so many folks.

CRAFTING AROUND THE WORLD ~ #CZECH REPUBLIC

Back in November or December of 2014 I started making all these pretty papers recycling my many scraps.  Just the process alone was such fun, but after awhile I remember thinking, "what am I going to do with all these pretty papers.  I didn't know at the time, but Somebody else did.  Our mission invited us to join  our all-European mission conference in Prague.  Well, given the crafty one that I am, I started thinking about what I could do with the ladies there.  So these big papers became hearts.

These are some of the embellishments I made for them to decorate with.  Don't worry you crafty ones, I'll do a tutorial on this too.  They happened the same way.  I started making them.  It was so fun and addictive I just kept doing it.  This was all before I knew about the conference.  I love how God works, planning things even before he lets us in on the plan.

These are a few more with lovely gems and buttons sent by Cindy Williams,  Antioch Baptist Church of Conway, Arkansas and done on craft foam sent by Rebecca Crawford,  First Baptist of Gary, Texas.  What would I do without all these lovely folks who make this mission happen.

And lastly, some more lovelies we will use sent by Stefanie Walsh of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for decorating the hearts.  There will be children at this meeting too so I'm just supposing they may be doing a few hearts as well.  I love doing crafts with kids and you can see how we go through a lot of materials in a short time.  So grateful to all who help with this.  We shall meet from the 16th to the morning of the 20th.  Pray for our meetings and the travel to and from please.  And I promise to post pictures of some of the finished hearts.  May God lift you up and give you encouragement today as I'm praying for you who read this.

"LET US REJOICE"

This year went so fast.  2013 is about to end.  Did the year go the way you expected?  Did you have some disappointments?  Maybe some unexpected delights?  God doesn't promise that all will be roses, but he does promise to take care of us, one day at a time.  If we can have a heart of gratefulness in all things, we will have joy.  If we have an expectancy of good and look for it, God will bless that attitude.  I made a decision a number of years ago to exercise a grateful heart....to look for the things I should be noticing and glad about....to count my proverbial blessings.  Has everything been roses since I made that decision?  No, there's been death, illness, injury, and more, but as I look back, the Lord was with me through it all and gave me peace.   As you go forward into this new year, why don't you make a decision to "rejoice and be glad in it."  I hope you will.  You will never regret.  Happy New Year to all our friends.  We love you.

Be Friends with Failure

 As artists we always have this interior critic running a dialogue.  "Is this good enough?"  You're not really an artist."  "Should I really be doing this?" This little cartoon will help your perspective.  Click the link below to go to "doodle alley, comics that nourish."

Be Friends with Failure

PAPER MAKING IN UKRAINE

 Not too long ago I had the opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for years... make my own paper.  Sometimes I do crafts with some of the neighbor kids and I wanted to give them this experience.  The above picture is the paper pulp sitting in it's tray with geranium flower petals and some sparkle stuff.

 Our first attempt was a disaster.  The paper was the thickness of a cookie.  So we did some other crafting that night and I decided I needed to work on it some more myself.  This page has leaves.

 After literally years of looking in Ukraine, I found this plastic vat that was just the right size to fit the screen I had that has to dip down into the mixture to pick up the paper pulp (made with my blender).

 After many tried for days to follow I finally got down to TOO thin where the paper ended up with holes as above.  So with much trial and error I figured it out.  The kids came back over and we made cards with the hand made paper.  They really liked that and we had such fun.

 This is my play with paints and some stencils.

 From the paper I made I have done my first signatures for a bound book.  Signatures are the folded pages that go into it.  I've made many mini-books in the past, but never binding my own so this was a first for me. 

 I also made a cover for my signatures and bound them with ribbon.  I'm far from done as I've yet to decorate the cover, (except for a bit of spray color) but I won't do that until I decide what I shall use it for.

For quite some time I debated what I would do with this book when it was entirely finished.  Finally I came to the conclusion I couldn't do anything with it.  As simple and maybe even a bit crude as it is, it is my first bound book so I must keep it.  One more checked off the bucket list.  What do you think?