Cards & Crafts

 

I have decided to vary this section of blog posts to cover more of what has been done over the years. The Lord has blessed me in many ways and I would like to give credit where credit is due. All praise to the Lord for His gifts.

Today I would like to share a suit I made 53 years ago when we had our marriage blessed. (Yes We have been married 63 years.) My dear wife told me I couldn't make my own suit for the wedding. Mistake!!!! That makes it a Challenge. Accepted.

This is the suitcoat. The fabric is stretch fabric and was a challenge to work with at times. (I had help with cutting and pattern direction due to the bias of the fabric. My mother was a seamstress. The rest was up to me.)

And pants:

Yeah I know, it was the early seventies so the pants were bell bottoms. That is ok with me since I was in the navy.

All of the pockets were bonded.

The back of the jacket has a false belt.

The buttons were fun and button holing easier than I expected.

The sleeves got three button for a more formal appearance.

The inside of the coat is fully lined and the collar and cuffs are black to keep the formal motif. 

Everything is double stitched inside and out.

The inside of the jacket has a bonded pocket too.

The pants were the easiest part of the project. The belt line was kept stretchy for obvious reasons.

The front two pockets:

And back two pockets are bonded for stretch and strength.

After finishing this suit The wife refused to do any sewing for several years. She said she couldn't do what I did. She eventually did do some sewing but she rarely told me I couldn't do something again. 

I hope You weren't too bored. This post was kind of a photo binge.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Renewal

 

In the previous few posts I have shared some of the ways in which we experience renewal and guidance. There are many, many more times that could be shared. Every day is a fresh opportunity to become a new person. What many think are failures are actually opportunities to discover new life and who our father in heaven is. It is in our brokenness that we draw closer to Him. Being vulnerable and fragile does not mean being weak or dying. It is a place where you are open to the Holy Spirit's guidance and instruction. The "Brainy Quote" above speaks of perseverance versus strength. To be strong in perseverance is what we are asked to do. We are asked to live our lives in spite of all of the obstacles we encounter, and there will be many obstacles along that path. Some obstacles will be all but invisible and others like impenetrable walls. Some are there to teach and others to change the direction of your path and still others to deepen your faith. Some years ago I was questioning what my purpose in life was. It was a deep and personal question. Another question was what was the meaning of my name. The answer came while working at my desk one day in a powerful message. "I am guardian!" My reaction was guardian of what? I am no warrior with armor and weapons. The answer to that was some time in coming. I was given a card with my name on it. I don't remember who had given it to me but it was an answer to both questions. On it was a verse from Deuteronomy 6:5 "I will love God with all my heart; with all my soul; with all my strength." The meaning of my name is "Guardian of Light." It is the only time I have ever seem this meaning. I am still not sure what the meaning of my name signifies. The Deuteronomic verse is how I feel about God. One more reason for my current study of the time when Christ was on earth and the apostles were the messengers of his existence and witnessing to His teachings. Perseverance is the key to moving forward with a reverence toward our Father in heaven. There is a rich and very personal life to be had if we revere Christ. How do you view God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are all different and He has made us all unique in every way. Seek Him. Knock on the door and it will be opened for you to come in.  

May the good Lord Bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Card Making

 

In the process of creating the first number of cards I collected quite a few 3d images that were never put together. I also used card stock that was loose, not in any folder or packet. DW wants to use up as much of these materials as possible. The card below was created from these elements.

The cardstock background came from one of her/my cardstock books. If you enlarge the image you can see there are multiple layers of flowers and leaves. If I remember correctly there are four or five different elements to the flowers and leaves. To be honest I do not remember what they were. They were all in a pile and needed to be put in their proper place with foam buttons to give the 3d effect. 

The image was attached to the base using double sided tape. The two gold jewels were added to the lower two corners. Since there is no sentiment used in making this card to make it multi-purpose I used peel and stick trim in black to add visual interest. Sometimes this is the hardest part of making the card since everything has to be fitted together to look seamless. This was so-so on this card. The sentiment on the outside and inside can be added later as needed.

I didn't create many of these cards with only the outside done. For me the hard part is getting back into the creative groove and paying attention to the elements needed to make it special to the person/persons receiving the card.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

A Warning

 

Last post I told of how I was stopped in my tracks to bring me to the place the Lord wanted to speak to me. Walking in the presence of the Lord is not always in our conscience or awareness. There is one more more experience I would like to share with you. It came as a warning of a promise I made and broke. I had been doing all of the cooking since retiring because the wife was still working. I love this because it gives me pleasure and allows my creativity a place to go. I love to experiment with different ingredients and foods. This got me a result that was unexpected.

One of the ingredients I like to use in cooking is wine or brandy. I had sworn off hard liquor after the incident in my last post so it was taboo as an ingredient in my dishes. Fast forward a several decades to 2016. I was looking for something different to use as an ingredient in a recipe. I was intrigued by the TV series "Moonshiners" and decided to see if it would be a good ingredient in a recipe. I found that "moonshine" was available in the State liquor store and bought a bottle. I never cook with anything without taste testing it first. I poured a sample in a shot glass and sampled it. It had a pleasant taste and had little bite to it. What was not expected was how fast to hit me. WHOA! I didn't like this at all. I decided to go out into the flower beds and do some weeding to help get rid of the effects of that shot glass sample. I had a weed that was an eyesore so I tried to pull it. It was resisting so I pulled hard and it snapped sending me in an out of control fall. I hit the ground hard, really hard. I broke the break resistant pair of glasses I was wearing and lay there dazed for a few moments. When I tried to get up I was in pain. I continued into the house and finished making the evening meal. That night was a sleepless one. I couldn't find a position that didn't hurt. The next day I started out for my daily walk of five or more miles and couldn't walk as far as around the block. I went to an emergency care unit twice and they didn't know what was wrong and told me it was just bruising. This went on for two days. I finally realized I was in trouble when parts of my body were turning purple. I told my wife we needed to visit the emergency room. A friend of the family drove us to the hospital emergency room. They took one look and sent me to be scanned. It turned out my lower abdomen was full of blood and there were three broken ribs. I had lost over two units (pints) of blood into my abdominal cavity. The doctor told me I should have died and was lucky to be alive. He asked a surgeon on duty if he could operate to find and fix the problem. He was told it was far too dangerous to do as it could result in death. He said it would take weeks or years to clear up and heal itself. (It was years in healing.) They told me the bleeding had stopped. They sent me home with instructions to rest and take the meds he prescribed. 

The reason for telling you this? My family has experienced alcoholism in it worst form. My grandfather was an accidental alcoholic that would drink anything containing alcohol. He was prescribed a shot a day for a week, a common practice back then. He hung himself one day because he couldn't take it anymore. My promise to not drink any hard liquor was broken with one shot of moonshine. Innocent or not it was a broken promise. The warning was clear. Do not do it again. A promise is a promise. He permitted this to remind me of that promise. This also made me resolve to know my Father in heaven. Part of the reason for my current journey.

There are numerous times in our lives that we are reminded of our failures or sins in ways not always so obvious. It is a form of refining the dross (sin) from our lives to bring us to a better place of acceptance before the Lord. We do not leave this world perfect. I am not God nor do I pretend to know all that God is capable of but I do know that the purging of sin from our lives does not end with death. Yes, we are forgiven through the cross of Christ. It is a long road to us but it is the merest of moments to our Father in heaven. We learn from Him in this life what we are capable of learning. We are finite. He is omniscient and omnipotent. All things are possible through Him. All praise to our triune God. You are not alone in this world and what we experience is not the only time this sort of thing has happened. We all experience correction as part of His family. Give praise in all things and thank the Lord for everything.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Card Making

 

As always the images and decorations were all part of the jumble of stash on our dining room table. almost all of it was unpackaged and the companies not available to give credit to.

It seems I had a lot of 3D stuff in the pile of stash. There were quite a few. Here is one that the wife had cut out but never completed. There were at least four layers to this card. The first is the bells and the second is one of the holly leaves on the lower left of the bells. The third layer is the bow and the fourth is another bow and holly leaf on top of that. The border around the image is a peel and stick silver scallop. It was needed to make the image stand out from the white background. This was a simple card to do.

The sentiment was a simple cutout from another Christmas card that I reused and  glued it into this card. The other card was apparently damaged and Jill cut it out for this purpose.

I know my creative expertise in telling how these cards is woefully sad but there isn't much else to tell when all I have is the pieces parts and no packaging.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Life, guided by the Holy Spirit

  

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

Revelation 21:5, And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Acts 3:21, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.

Last week I told of a small piece of my journey in Christ Jesus with the holy spirit. It was a beginning. Many things have happened since then. I don't intend to recount my life to this day. Much of what was experienced caused me to question things that were being said about who God was, how I should live, how others should live, etc. The only way to find the answers to all of the questions was to find out what the original scriptures said about all of this and what was the original contextual meaning the of word. This is difficult since there was only the Torah at that time. The books of the Gospel were not yet written. The meaning of what was shared at the time of the Apostles was Hebrew and Aramaic which have a spectrum of meanings. The translation to Germanic/Indo-European languages, which are linear in nature, presents the problem of not having an equivalent meaning for the word to be translated.  This is further complicated by the use of words that are incorrect in meaning or add something that is not in the original Meaning. This has made it tough to find what the the gospels are really saying. All of this has made it hard to discern what the Apostles and Christ were telling us.  

I have the belief that God is omnipotent in every way. I believe in a loving, forgiving God that wants to have all of his creation join Him in heaven. It is inconceivable to me that He would not be able to undo the sin in all of his creation to make that possible. If he cannot do this then we are all condemned to destruction. There are no sinless people living on this planet. If this is the case, Christ came to redeem us in vain. If this is the case, God is not the loving God of our scriptures. RUBISH! There is no doubt in my mind that Christ died for our sins and that everyone will be redeemed at the coming of Christ Jesus. Why else would He quote that we should love God with all our strength and love our neighbor as our self? (Matthew 22:37-39) I know our God is a loving God. I have been loved and guided throughout my life and corrected when needed. Nothing can change that. The correction can been severe. Fore example: I was getting to busy with things and drinking a little too much so the Lord caused me to fall, landing on my right leg breaking both major calf leg bones and cracking the socket to my foot. Grounded for three months with a cast up to my knee. During that time I spent most of my time reading the King James bible I had from cover to cover. He wanted my attention and He got it. God is not static in any way. He is active in our lives and loving us in ways we may not recognize at the time. He is forgiving and ever present to us if we but pay attention. With everything that has happened in my journey through life, The Holy spirit has always been there guiding and speaking in whispers, and at times, shouting guidance and encouragement. I know my god to be just and forgiving, loving me right where I am, always present, even when I think He is not there. (He did not move. I did.) Consider again the original scriptures and what was being said. More about my journey with my loving Father next week. Have courage and be still long enough for Him to speak to your heart.

May God bless and Keep you safe and Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Card Making

 

This is another 3d card created from the pile of stash on the table I shared in the first Card Making post. I have no idea where most of these images and sentiments came from.

The image above is comprised of a base image and four cutouts for the flowers and a single cutout for the frame. All pieces were match up with the corresponding base image and cutouts and mounted with micro dots to give the 3d effect. The frame was also raised with micro dots to make a completely 3d image.

The sentiment is also mounted with micro dots to complete the 3d card. The corners were peel and stick. 

The reason there is no origin for the images on the cards I made is that everything is lose with no packaging to tell me what company they came from. Almost all of the cards are created from this mashup of pieces.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Its a Long Road

 

In my earliest years I attended protestant churches. In the mid 1950s the church I was attending had a former government agent who performed an alter call. I answered and was baptized in the Spirit. My life has not been the same since. On the way home one day I had a voice say to me you will join the Catholic church. My reaction was surprise and tucked the thought away then I dismissed it. In the late 60's I had come home from work and was going to bed. As I lay there I had the feeling I was not alone. Someone besides my wife was in the room with me. I sat up in bed and there next to the bed was a figure, all in black, no features visible. I asked what it wanted. It said nothing but pointed at me. I laid back and closed my eyes in fear. Almost immediately I heard, saw and felt the loud words in brilliant  letters, glowing like nothing I have ever experienced, "DO YOU BELIEVE" I answered involuntarily "I BELIEVE". All this in brilliant, luminous marque like visible light. All of this never disturbed my dear wife sleeping next to me. After that, what was gibberish ran through my mind and was spoken. I was confused so I told my mother about what had happened. She gave several suppressed "Praise the Lords". Turns out she was part of the Charismatic movement and had been praying for me to be baptized. Shortly after that I joined the Catholic church. Imagine that! In the years that followed I quit a heavy smoking habit, Dropped a  borderline alcoholic habit, cleaned up a nasty explosive temper and cursing habit among other things. That does not make me perfect. Far from it! If anything it has left me vulnerable. If you think this is all made up, I assure you it isn't. There is far more to this life than most people are willing to share. This is a tiny bit of what being a Christian means. Much of it is not fun and games but some of it is praise worthy in the end. There are tears, both of joy and sorrow, loneliness, new friendships, broken friendships, persecution, sacrifices and any other experience you could name. I have been sharing the quest to know the loving God that loves and blesses me so completely, without compromise. I pray you get to know Him in a very personal way. Next week I will try to continue sharing what he has shown me and means to me.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Always Love the Details".

Card Making

The next 2 cards are both 3d. Both are blank on the inside to allow for special greeting and wishes.

 There are 5 layers to the first card. The bush and stone patio are the base. The dog, and the general room are all one layer. The coat, cane and table are another layer. 

the tray, table napkin and news paper are the fourth layer. The plate and food are the last layer. All are raised up on thin sticky dots to give that 3d effect. I used a black peel and stick border. The red side panel is stash paper that is used to cover the blank white space. Unfortunately photos do not really show the dimensional effect. Of course the back is labeled.

This card opens up and down awning style. The inside is completely blank. It can be used however it is needed.

The next card is also 3d. 

This image already had a frame around it so did not need any embellishment. The back window with the outside view was the base. The room was the first raised layer. The side table and book/magazine rack was another layer. The chair, lamp and rug are a layer. The pillows on the chair are a layer. The dog sleeping on the rug is the last layer. This is a Christmas card but the plaid of the background makes the Merry Christmas hard to see. I used gold peel and stick to border the the card and give it interest. Of course the back is signed hard to read.

I apologize for not giving more information on the process of making the card. These cards are more jigsaw puzzle than actual craft cards. 

Thank you for at least giving these cards a look. 

May the good Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details".

Bible Versions

There is a dizzying number of translations for the bible. There are currently 900 English translations available ranging from word-for word to dynamic thought-for-thought versions. The number of languages it has been translated into is more than 3,500. I use 20+ versions as cross references in my studies. Why bother? The variability is interesting and provides a baseline to consider. Combine this with the experience of having attended many different churches gives a better understanding of what the beliefs of those institutions are.

This is a very short post this week. We have had many disruptions for health and other reasons. I will try to post something more in line with what this blog is all about, The Lord.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."