I am My Father's Daughter

When God created the world,

he found joy in the act of creating.

In Genesis 1:31, it reads,

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

And because our Creator found joy in making things out of nothing,

He wanted to share it with us.

He created man in His image-

with the capacity to create,

with the aptitude to create with passion.

He gave man gifts and blessings, talents and love.

He didn’t give these gifts to the animals, only to man.

We are born to create.

We are born to use our imagination.

When we create, when we bring something that wasn’t there into being,

we share in our Creator’s gift and blessing.

God created many beautiful things out of nothing.

I look at how beautiful the animals are-

the different kinds of birds, butterflies,

even the strange creatures under the sea.

Look at the magnificent trees and mountains, the sunset.

God took so much care in forming these things for us and Him to enjoy.

Some of the things He created we will never even see!

He created them for His pleasure!

We too can create for our pleasure.

We need not be making art for others to appreciate,

unless that’s part of our pleasure as well.

There is no limit to God’s creativity and imagination.

And I believe God also gave us, each of us,

creativity and imagination with no limit.

The more we use these gifts, the more we will have!

God didn’t destroy what to us are strange or funny creations.

Sometimes we don’t want to draw or paint because we say we can’t draw.

Take a tip from God who appreciates His creations whatever it looks like!

And I realized that we would be

like father, like daughter,

if I enjoyed my creations as well!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Fused Plastic

A couple of days ago a lady from a TV show called to ask me if I had a project to re-use the election banners after the elections. Here in the Philippines, we are going to elect a new president and senators, etc. on May 10, and you can't believe what a mess our politicians are making of our streets!
No that's not my desk! That is what our streets look like! If you want to have a positive mindset, it's really like a gigantic "fiesta"! But really, what are we going to do with all those banners afterwards?

I got some banners a few days ago and experimented- first I cleaned it up, then I put two printed sides together:
I then fused the two plastic banners together by ironing them, putting a layer of paper over it to protect my iron:

I folded some parts to make it thicker and ironed it again.

Amazingly, acrylic paint sticks! I had a fun time painting it! It had a sort of "coagulated" texture that made the paint on it interesting.



Then I sewed it up, putting buttons and to reinforce the sides, I piped it with leather.



Of course you can also do this with PLASTIC BAGS! There are too many plastic bags thrown into the garbage! They end up in our oceans and rivers and do so much damage!

What's on my desk? This. I'm going to make my second project with fused plastic- a journal.
If you'd like to take a sneak peak at what other people have on their work desk, head over to Julia. I guarantee you'll want to join in on the fun!

You may want to see other do it yourself projects at Market Yourself Monday at SumoSweetStuff, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Just Something I Whipped Up Monday at Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter Monday, Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do.

A Tutorial and a Giveaway: Flower Collage

Flower collages are really easy to do and you can make them big or small, simple or really complicated!

Materials:

base material like canvas or board, wall putty or gesso, brush, acrylic paint, water, various paper and fabric. Scissors, white glue, crochet thread, needle,

Optional materials:

Stencils, rubber or foam stamps, fabric, felt, leather, decorative scissors, spray bottle, fixative

1. Decide on your substrate or base material- canvas? Cardboard? Just make sure you can put a needle through it. Coat with gesso or wall putty. I prefer the latter as it’s cheaper, it’s not as fine, but I like the texture it makes. Dry the gesso or wall putty well. If you paint on it and it's not that dry, your work will have white streaks on it..

2. Paint the surface a light color (yellow, light blue, pink, etc.) and wait for it to dry. Apply a second coat of paint – use a slightly darker color. You don’t have to paint all areas. After this dries, apply a third coat of darker color (dark blue, orange, brown, etc.). Again, you don’t have to cover all areas. You can use stencil, or stamps to add texture and interest to your background. You can wipe away some parts and you can even use a water spray bottle to add moisture and dab away the moist paint.

3. Prepare your materials for the flowers. You can use printed cardstock but I prefer to make my own painted paper. Look for old books with music sheets, foreign languages and paint them in different colors. Make your own designs using the computer- use interesting calligraphy fonts to encode french poems for instance. You can also use wall putty or gesso on bookpaper and paint it after it dries.

I also like to draw on book pages and copy it. Paint with acrylic or watercolor. Make different patterns and designs.

4. I also use fabric glued on paper. Use 50/50 water and white glue to attach the fabric to the paper. Sometimes I can find leather or felt scraps and this can make a nice addition to the collage.

5. Cut out different shaped flowers and petals from the paper and fabric. Sometimes I use decorative scissors for the paper and pinking shears for the fabric. I tried tearing flowers and I liked how that turned out too. Cut out leaves and stems and grass too.

6. This is the part I like. Try out different combinations of the cut out flowers and see which ones you like. Place them on the canvas or cardboard to see the placement of the flowers. Stems can be straight, wavy or crooked depending on your preference.

7. Glue on the stems, and the leaves and use olive green crochet thread to make some stitches. You can use whatever kind of stitches you like. I usually do the back stitch http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/stitches/back.html but couching http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/stitches/couching.html , and stem stitches will do as well. http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/stitches/stem.html

8. Glue on the flowers, making sure you have a balance of small and big ones. In my first canvases, I didn’t glue on the flowers and they were 3d, with the petals standing up. However, I started gluing on my flowers because I thought the 3d ones wouldn’t stand the test of time. Either way you want to do it, you will now choose a button to put in the middle of your flowers. Sew this on.

I like adding embroidery stitches to the flowers to add interest and texture.

9. As a final step, you may decide to put a bible verse or a favorite quote on it. Spray the collage with fixative to protect.

Here’s the finished product:

If you would like to win this 5 ½” square flower collage on liner board, please make a comment below.

To get an additional chance to win, you may opt to put the picture on your blog and a link to mine. Please make an additional comment informing me of this.

Of course all my followers get an additional chance too! I'll add your names after all the comments.

If you ever try doing this, I'd be interested to see the results. I'd be happy to answer any questions, don't hesitate to ask! For more tutorials, visit Inspiration Avenue and come join the party!

The winner for this giveaway is no. 107, Lisa Lectura. Hope you like it, Lisa!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday? Week 47

I got so interested in peeking at people's workdesks courtesy of Julia, that I decided to be brave and show my mess of a table! Here it is:
You'll notice there's nothing much going on in it because there's no space to put much of anything! (There's my Bible in 4 translations next to the red bottle of glue, because I want to do a canvas of the Shema, Dt 6:4-9.) For me it's what's on your workFLOOR, as I've been working on a big canvas, about 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 feet big. When I started this afternoon, my canvas propped on the floor looked like this:
Then by the end of my work before dinner, it looked like this:
I am not that happy with it as I envisioned something else, but from experience I've learned that

Creativity
is like a
river,
you just have to go with the
flow!

The Secret to a Successful Business, Part 1

I've been working in our family business, papemelroti, since I was 11 years old. And that is a loooong time ago! What do I know about business?

Every time we're asked what is the secret to a successful business, I always answer "Prayer!" I think our business is a miracle, and I emphasize this when I give talks to students about our business. We don't do business analysis or any financial reports, we don't even study the financial statements. What I do look at is if there's money in the bank, then I know we're alright!

My mom is such a great role model for timid women who want to go into business. When she started 42 years ago, she didn't have money, she didn't have any business degree or even experience, she didn't have a brilliant marketing strategy. What she did have was a love of making things with her hands. She was industrious, she still makes all sorts of things today which we sell at the store. She had a faith in herself and more importantly, God. Plus my mom was thrifty, had a good intuition and had a lot of practical sense. And so in spite of all she didn't have and the little she did, our family was able to build a business with an identifiable brand.

Another important factor in being successful in business is recognizing your gifts and using them. Some people say, "Follow your passion!" or "Use your core competence!" or "Be in the circle of your anointing!" God gave each one of us gifts and talents, blessings, passions, an anointing. He was not stingy in His giving. We just have to discover what that is and use it. We should never be selfish with this gift. If we are generous, it will grow, it will come back to us in the form of fulfillment, satisfaction, meaning and purpose, and also financial blessings.

Have you discovered what your gift is?

Party Time!

You are invited to a party!
Join in on the fun- Inspiration Avenue is hosting a Blog Party! The great thing about it is everybody, participants and visitors will get a load of inspiration, gifts of creativity and lots of ideas. Blog participants will either teach something by way of a tutorial, or share a new recipe, or just list favorite sites!

Ummm... what will I be sharing? Since I've gone gaga over my flower collages, I will be making a tutorial for this. I finished one when I was at the beach this weekend. I put a bible verse on my collage: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever." from Isaiah. I also finally finished my Madonna of the Flowers. The flowers are really easy to do and a joy to make!

A Blessed Easter

This is indeed a wonderful story, but alas, merely a legend! Today we celebrate a true story - of the one true man and true God who gifted us with our Resurrection life! Jesus is the stairway, the path, the gate, the open door! We are an Easter people and Hallelujah is 0ur song!

The Miracle of the Carpenter
by Max Lucado
Loretto Chapel took five years to complete. Modeled after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, its delicate sanctuary contains an altar, a rose window, and a choir loft. The choir loft is the reason for wonder. Were you to stand in the newly built chapel in 1878, you might see the Sisters of Loretto looking forlornly at the balcony. Everything else was complete: the doors had been hung, the pews had been placed, the floor had been laid. Everything was finished. Even the choir loft. Except for one thing. No stairs.

The chapel was too small to accommodate a conventional stairway. The best builders and designers in the region shook their heads when consulted. "Impossible," they murmured. There simply wasn't enough room. A ladder would serve the purpose, but mar the ambiance. The Sisters of Loretto, whose determination had led them from Kentucky to Santa Fe, now faced a challenge greater than their journey: a stairway that couldn't be built.

What they had dreamed of and what they could do were separated by fifteen impossible feet.
So what did they do? The only thing they could do. They ascended the mountain. Not the high mountains near Santa Fe. No, they climbed even higher. They climbed the same mountain that Jesus climbed 1,800 years earlier in Bethsaida. They climbed the mountain of prayer.
As the story goes, the nuns prayed for nine days. On the last day of the novena, a Mexican carpenter with a beard and a wind-burned face appeared at the convent. He explained that he had heard they needed a stairway to a chapel loft. He thought he could help. The mother superior had nothing to lose, so she gave him permission.

He went to work with crude tools, painstaking patience, and uncanny skill. For eight months he worked. One morning the Sisters of Loretto entered the chapel to find their prayers had been answered. A masterpiece of carpentry spiraled from the floor to the loft. Two complete three-hundred-sixty-degree turns. Thirty-three steps held together with wooden pegs and no central support. The wood is said to be a variety of hard fir, one nonexistent in New Mexico!

When the sisters turned to thank the craftsman, he was gone. He was never seen again. He never asked for money. He never asked for praise. He was a simple carpenter who did what no one else could do so singers could enter a choir loft and sing.

See the stairway for yourself, if you like. Journey into the land of Enchantment. Step into this chapel of amazement and witness the fruit of prayer. Or, if you prefer, talk to the Master Carpenter yourself. He has already performed one impossible feat in your world. He, like the Santa Fe carpenter, built a stairway no one else could build. He, like the nameless craftsman, used material from another place. He, like the visitor to Loretto, came to span the gap between where you are and where you long to be. Each year of his life is a step. Thirty-three paces. Each step of the stair is an answered prayer. He built it so you can climb it. And sing.

Thank You Giveaway!

What's going on in my craft nook? Here's a look at what I've been doing this weekend- usually my schedule is so packed, I can't start anything new! But I had one leisurely Saturday so I've almost finished my two commissions, finished my garden collage for my OWOH winner (I know, I know, this took a looong time!), 4 ATCs and started my Madonna of the Flowers. That's my messy desk on top. Plus I was able to get a haircut!

I'm soooo happy, and because I'm so happy, I decided to give away my Ladies with the Necklaces series of ATCs which I finished yesterday. Let's see if anybody wants them! Of course all my followers automatically get a chance because I'm super thrilled they actually want to follow me even if they're not my relatives (well, one is!) No, I'll give my wonderful followers 3 chances each just because they make me feel really special and they push me to post even without saying anything!! All comments below this post get a chance each if they answer the question: "What did you do this weekend?" It doesn't have to be a creative deed, I just want to know what you've been up to! Be sure you have an email address so I can contact you! If I get a lot of comments, I'm sure I'll be inspired to make some more giveaways! I'll put your names in the hat by the second weekend of April.
Here are the 4 ATCs I made yesterday, painted on bookpaper. They each have a chain necklace.

My First Award

I was delighted when I opened my inbox yesterday to find a nice surprise waiting for me- Beth Stone gifted me with an award. What a compliment! Thank you Beth! As she doesn't know me personally, that is three times a pleasure!

The award comes with the instructions that we nominate 7 favorite blogs, and as I'm such a family person, I'm going to nominate first my sister's blogs: Peggy, Meldy, Tina, and my brother Robert's blog.
I hope no one screams "NEPOTISM" at me! It's just that I'm really a fan of their creative talents!

Here are the other blogs I'm nominating:
Altered Book Lover for all the techniques shared so generously here!
Altered Attic for her fabulous artwork I so enjoy looking at and savoring, and for her courage and fighting spirit!
Cabbie, a fellow filipina, for her happy blog with a chockful of projects!
I've been a follower of their blogs because of the inspiration I get!

The second thing I'm supposed to do is post 7 facts about me (not that you want to know this!):
I'm the eldest in my family and I've been working in our family business since I was 11 years old! I am a messy person! Good grief! I have one whole craft room to myself and I can't keep it clean! One day I'll have to make a project out of that! I am part of a Christian Covenant community and I met my husband there. He's one of my biggest blessings, mainly because he doesn't mind my mess (kidding!) We got married when I was 37 years old, and we have one son.
My last fact is I love journals and have a whole stack of them. My instruction to my husband is to burn all of it when I die! Maybe except the ones when Josh was a baby because Josh likes me to read that to him.

JOY

What grabs you? What excites and inspires you? What makes you wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and an anticipation for what the day brings? It can be a little insignificant thing, something that has yet to happen or something you've been waiting for that's about to happen. It can be the weather, or a nice pair of shoes, a collage that just came together perfectly, a job well done, a gift, a revelation, an idea, a new friendship.

Joy. Sometimes it is elusive. But if you are open to the many gifts God has for us in a day, it may just fly in through that open door. Let me tell you why I decided to write about joy. My husband amused me, has been amusing me for many days. While some men get excited about a new car, or a promotion, or a deal in the works, my husband gets excited about the great bible adventure. He has been studying and even teaching the bible a long time (not professionally), but when he discovered this new way of studying and teaching the bible, he became literally like a kid with a new toy! Or you could say, he's like a salesman so absolutely sold on his product. He talks about it to everybody, and you can't help but get infected with his enthusiasm. We believe you! We believe you! Let's start on it! So we will be starting on it. And thanks to my husband, we will find new life in our bible adventure!

Blogging 101 or Things I Wish I Knew Before OWOH!

I've been having so much fun looking at all the beautiful blogs I found through OWOH, I decided to change my header and put a background courtesy of Shabby Blogs. Didn't know you could have such a nice blog so easily! Thank you to Megan and all the beautiful ladies and one gentleman behind Shabby Blogs!

I also learned about FotoFlexer where you can manipulate your photos online, and make your header, add text, etc. Then there's also Shrink Pictures where you can resize images online and make an avatar! I guess life is like that- it's always an adventure and a journey, always learning new things! Keep your eyes open, keep enthusiastic and you'll learn so many wonderful things! I'm off.... see you later!