Give me, give me, give me...

Hi friends! Long time no hear from me... Well, I am delighted to be one of the newest members of the Creative Worship Team with Sweet n Sassy Stamps. I'm so excited to share my 1st blog post with you. One of the 1st things you will learn about me is that I don't do mornings!!! Truth be told, I loathe mornings. I enjoy the freshness of the air and the stillness in my heart but man, that crawling out of my snuggly warm bed just isn't fun for this dedicated night owl. My mornings are not as productive as some would suggest however when I take a step back and look at what a normal "morning" around my place looks like, I see a different view. When I look at it I see that's it's not about how much I can get done, but that the time spent with my Daddy God IS indeed fruitful. You see, it's not about what time you wake up but what you do with that first bit of time that matters.

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Psalm 143:8 NLT

Yes, I want to hear His voice each & every morning & yes, I want to be reminded of His great love for me- who doesn't? It's that last part of the verse that speaks to me the most. He's gonna show me where to go IF I give myself to Him first. 

The Bible talks of bringing your "first fruits" to the Lord in Exodus 34. Verse 26 shares how as you begin your work harvesting your crops, bring the very best of the first part of it to God. I believe we can apply this to our lives. We give Him our very best and the first parts of our day.  May I suggest our time spent with Him in the morning as our 'first fruits' offering? I think of my morning times with Jesus as me giving Him my offering of worship. Since we are often at our best in the morning we can give God our "first fruits' by making His time a priority before we start with all of our tasks and to do lists.

We live in a society and generation that has a problem of the "give me's". Anyone know what I mean? Everyone wants something. "Give me a ride", "Give me some money honey", "Give me a break"... etc. Well, the Lord has some "give Me's" too. He says "Give Me your time, give Me your talents, Give Me your resources" but above that He says "Give Me your heart". 

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Matthew 22:37

What I got to say about that is "just give me JESUS". I want Him to give me more of Himself everyday and that looks a whole lot like me giving my 'first fruits' to Him each day in worship, prayer, & Bible study. Will you join me and committing to offer your 'first fruits' offering to Him each morning when you rise?

Art: For the background I used a large flat brush & 3 shades of yellow/orange acrylic paint blending and working quickly while the paint was still wet. I used the masking technique to stamp the sun  & clouds from the Love Your Neighbor set then masking/stamping each portion of the phrase for Give me Jesus set. For the chicken I selected a google image, uploaded it to Cricut Design Studio, and cut out a stencil. Using the stencil & the highly sophisticated ;) baby wipe finger technique I "painted" in the chicken. Added washi, a cute tab, and finished off with black splatters - my fave. 

Give me Jesus!

 Elizabeth - @icolorinmybible

If you are like me and have to have these stamp sets then you can snag In the Morning for yourself here or Love Your Neighbor set here. Check out Instagram & Facebook too for lots more inspiration on these new releases. Can't wait to see what you create!

Encourage and build each other up... 

Seems easy enough right? Well, although this is such a powerful statement it is often times hard to walk out. When we are feeling left out, unworthy, or empty it is hard to uplift others when I fact it is us that feel like we need the uplifting. Paul talks of the days getting darker in the 1st verses of this chapter and I believe we are living in those days. We all are in need of friends and people that surround us who edify and not tear down (enough of that already). Friends, why not live loved and from a place of fullness in Him? When we live in His fullness, it impacts those in our circle of influence and we are able to spill out that encouragement into the lives of others effortlessly. I wanna live in that place where I build, encourage, edify, strengthen, promote spiritual growth, and uplift this around me- effortlessly, don't you? #illustratedfaith #if_seedsoffaithcollection #journalbible#encourageothers #hisbiblejournaling #icolorinmybible

I took the 3x4 cards from the Seeds of Faith Collection and cut them up to use as different pattern papers for the banner then adhered the alpha stickers to it. Punched holes and strung them together with bakers twine. Easy!

One of the cards is used as a tip in for hidden journaling. Added a washi tape tab and puffy cross stickers & a few little cross doodles for a completed look. 

Just posted an event on Eventbrite... run, check it out & register for you and a friend.  It's going to be a fun fun day.

10am - 4pm - Morning session is Intro class, break for lunch, then afternoon session is for "digging deeper".  Can't wait to see you there!

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Change of Directions 

Sometimes you just have to follow God's leading in your life and change the course of what you have been doing. This change for me is so exciting and I can't wait to share it with you... 

Introducing... my newest passion...Bible Art Journaling!

Now I will share with you both my art & what God has laid on my heart.  Thanks so much for joining me on this exciting journey. I appreciate you being here and for bearing with me as I learn the ropes of blogging. This site is obviously a work in progress but there is quite the learning curve when you are starting out or in this case re-learning everything.

So... without further ado I would like to share with you a page I recently completed. 

Psalm 139:13-16 God made some of us fluffy, some of us bony, and some of us somewhere in between. He made us dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel colored. None of that matters because we are made by Him, designed by Him, and our gifts, talents, & personality come from Him. We are all different but the same- made uniquely by a God who loves us immeasurably. Fearfully- we are made to be in awe of Him & wonderfully- because we are distinct and set apart for Him. God sees you, He knows you, He knows your heart and you are beautifully crafted by Him.

I used the Illustrated Faith She Blooms, Illustrated Faith "I fly" stamp set, She Blooms Enamel Heart Cadmium yellow Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush pen for the highlighting. She Blooms Washi Tape

Artwork Submissions

Here a couple artwork pieces that I submitted to corp along with my video.... It was hard to choose only 5 pieces of your best artwork because I try and make every piece of artwork my 'best'. Just in my nature. Pictures aren't the best tho - still learning how to photograph my art as well as how to post on this blog - Hope you enjoy anyway and feel free to leave comments or ask questions about what I did.

Mix and mingle mantle display album using Magnifique Level 2 paper pack, Lagoon mini medley assortment, blue green sparkles, & natural hemp. We made this as our Fall retreat project and everyone raved over how cute it was. I think that it would be great to make one side say Thanksgiving and the other side Christmas so that you could have it out for display longer simply by turning it around. I used this color scheme so that you could leave it out year round tho.

This is a birthday invitation I made for my son. It uses several techniques including: dry embossing, piercing, paper piecing using the Cupcake Sprinkles stamp set, edge distressing, & create a shade pearl paint for the icing! Loved how it came together and of course I used my Originals card making how to book for the pattern.

This is a Magic layout that was so fun to make. I used my new spray pen & tulip re-inker. I sprayed the white daisy base page before layering on all the elements on the page. I used the Sweetheart paper collection, new pink buttons, black waxy flax, and the pink ribbon assortment. Stamped the images using Affection Stamp set once on the base page then again on scratch paper and cut out. I popped them up for dimension before embellishing with the buttons. My Scrap Thru the Year club girls thought this one was the best one I've ever made!

This layout is an older one but it was just one of my all time favs. I love the simplicity of it LOL. Using the paper flowers, buttercup ribbon, filigree charms, and antique copper brads made this page come together beautifully. The chocolate alphabet letters were a booger to cut out but I managed anyway :) I did some paper rolling on the edges of the striped paper for a bit of distressed look as well as used my circle punch to make the concave areas for the brads to fit in on the large photo.

Lastly this is an adorable mini album created with a Wings Level 1 paper kit only along with the black mini medley assortment, wings level 2 pleated ribbon and licorice opaques for embellishments. Of course I distressed everything in black ink after coloring the album itself sweet leaf. I then popped my stickease and edge distressed the pages inside for added effect. Really like the way it turned out. Kinda wished I could have kept it but will get it back soon ;)

If you would like to purchase any of the items used for these projects please click on the "shop my site" button on the right hand side and it will take you to my website or you can contact me directly.

Thanks for looking,

Elizabeth

CTMH Extravaganza Teacher Hopeful

I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to apply for CTMH's Extravaganza. Teaching at Convention has been a dream of mine since becoming a consultant 6 years ago. I enjoy teaching and think it would just be the ultimate dream to be teaching at one of CTMH events.

So let me share this video with you. It is my very 1st video tutorial ever so don't laugh :) I love teaching however never have done so with a camera in my face LOL. It was quite nerve racking to say the least :) Have to give credit to my awesome videographer - Zoe (my 8 yr old daughter). She did an amazing job keeping up with her mom all the while watching the stopwatch so that I don't go over my allotted 2 min! Thanks baby girl.

I made this video and submitted it along with some of my artwork to CTMH for review. I am hopeful that I will be chosen as one of the 32 lucky teachers that will be sharing at this years CTMH convention Extravaganza in Anaheim California! Here I am teaching you a few quick ideas that I have regarding CTMH's new Spray Pen. Think of yourself as "Picaso" - turn up the music and get out your spray pen. Let the good times roll and the paint fly! I love it an everyone who has seen it and used it has to have one! Simply can't get enough of it :) Hope you enjoy! Do let me know what you think!

If I am chosen I will be given $500 in product ofmy choice along with the special privilege of playing with the latest -hot off the press products that NO ONE else even knows exists! Then I have the amazing opportunity to share it/them at Convention with everyone else. If that wasn't enough they will spoil us with a special gift just for Extravaganza teachers.

All that sounds delightful however if I don't ever see a dime in product nor do I get anything extra special - just the experience alone will be so worth it to me. See, I have had that dream for a very long time now and up until last year when I went to convention was I even eligible to teach. I jumped at this opportunity and am hoping for the best. Thank you CTMH for giving us the opportunity to 'try out' even if we aren't picked.

I'll be back with some of the artwork I submitted so stay tuned!

Elizabeth

I'm back!

Well it has been almost a year and a half since I last visited my blog or posted anything. Sorry to leave you hanging :( I always want to get on here but just never get around to it. I had hoped for a New' Years Resolution that I would get back to blogging but birthday's and such have gotten in the way :)

All that to say....I'm hoping to be back!!!

Stay tuned for more updates.....