Hands to Work, Hearts to God

Most people just want to be happy, to have a good family, good job, good children, and not be bothered by trials- whether at home or at work or in their church. We think that as long as we’re not hurting anybody, we’re in a good place. Unfortunately, the minute we make happiness our goal, like the proverbial butterfly we try to catch, it’s not going land on our shoulder. If we just want to live for ourselves, fulfill our dreams, plan our life to accomplish our goals, it’s not going to happen. Somewhere along the line, we’re going to ask, where did I go wrong? We’re going to say to God, "Why me? I’m here, minding my own business, taking care of my family, living life in a "good" way, not doing anybody any harm, why am I not happy? Why is my wife/my husband not happy? Why?"

When Dr. Karl Menninger, founder of the Menninger Clinic was asked, "What should you do if you feel a nervous breakdown coming on?" he replied: "Lock the door of your house, go across the street, and do something to help your neighbor."

God’s ways are not our ways. God’s economies are not our economies. God’s solutions are not our solutions. If we lack money, we should tithe and tithe generously. If we are not happy, we should go and make someone happy. If we need something, we should give something away. If we are constantly harassed and feel there isn’t enough time to do all we have to do, we should give more time for prayer. If we lack confidence, we should make somebody feel good about themselves.

There is a smart saying that goes anything that’s wrong with you can be fixed by a change in me. We can bring that into a broader perspective and say anything that’s wrong with the world can be fixed by a change in me. You might say we can’t do anything about terrorists or the recession. But that’s not how God thinks. He asks for our loaves and fishes, what we have right now, right here, and he multiplies that and blesses it until we have more than enough to change the world and our perspective. Right here and right now, that is what God is asking for.

There are many volunteer opportunities near where you live. We may think that there’s a lot of things wrong with the world, but when you see how people are helping people, these are the loaves and fishes that will save our countries. Helping others who need help is what will save us.

Here are some suggestions on how we can do something that is bigger than you and me!

Fund raise for a good cause. Do some house building with Habitat for Humanity or Gawad Kalinga. Clean up your house and donate your clothes, books, etc. to charitable institutions. Tutor some street kids. Clean up a dirty bit of beach, a playground or whatever needs cleaning or sprucing up. Visit the sick, the poor, the prisoners. Bring a reusable bag with you when shopping. Let's do what we can, where we are, with what we have!

Travelling to Different Places Far and Near

I've been absent from blogging the past two months because of travel and transferring to a new house. My family and I went to different places in France and Italy, wonderful cities like Paris, and Rome, Lisieux, Assisi, San Giovanni Rotondo, and Lourdes the first half of April. Then we transferred to our new house which has been in the making for over a year! Home Sweet Home! Both were exquisite joys and never would have happened if not for my family!

The best part about our new house is the church is so close by, I have been able to walk to mass every morning and visit the Adoration Chapel afterwards. My prayer time has been truly enriched and I get to see my mom, who is a daily mass goer, every day. Another great thing is we live near my parents, and all my sisters and brother. My son has walked by himself to visit his cousins several times.

I feel surrounded by God's love and blessing everyday! But really, the greatest blessings are our family- the people we love, the people who love us, the people who are conduits of God's goodness and generosity to us! There is no value to traveling around the world, living in a beautiful house, if we do not have our family, our real family, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, to share it with!

Journal Covers

Here's what I've been up to lately. I painted the cover with wall putty to add some texture, then painted it with acrylics- first yellow, then pink, then peach. When the paint was dry, I looked through my paper cut outs, and arranged various pictures on the cover.

It's funny about art- you never know what's going to come out. Sometimes you're inspired, and sometimes you're lazy. One thing I've learned is you don't stop when you're tired or lazy. Sometimes you don't particularly like what's forming but we need to get rid of the inner critic that says, "That's ugly! Throw it away!" I look at some of the animals God has created- even if they looked strange, God didn't destroy them!
Here's fangtooth and below is the angora rabbit. If I made them, I'd be tempted to hide the !mistake. But God didn't destroy these and other strange looking creatures. In Genesis, after creating anything, He said, "It is very good!" meaning He appreciated them all!

We should follow our Father and learn to appreciate our own creations and not be too hard on ourselves!

Blog Yummies!

Visit Sally-Ann and celebrate with her! Ends March 27th, 8pm.


Donalda celebrates a lot of stuff, with this great blog candy. Be sure to join before April 3rd.

Jennifer celebrates her first blogoversary with this super Easter Blog Candy! This yummy candy will be drawn on Easter Sunday 12th April at 7pm GMT.


Stacey celebrates her Blogoversary with this lovely candy! Till 26th of March at 6pm.

Zoe celebrates her Blogoversary with this lovely blue candy! Her giveaway ends March 27 at 10pm.

Remember

Remember that the goodness of the Lord never ceases! I like to think of God as an Artist who paints our lives in many colors! His outstretched hand is always eager to bless us, love us, brighten our lives! If we expect God to fill our cup to overflowing, He will do so! If we believe Him, and claim the promises in the Bible, we will not be like the Israelites who did not believe and as a result did not reach the Promised Land! I have a little book of Affirmations which I keep reading and repeating because faith comes from HEARING the word of God!

Noah's Righteousness

Here's my faith journal entry for February 18- the reading for the day was about Noah and how when he got off the boat and got on dry ground, he immediately offered a holocaust to the Lord. Can you imagine how grateful he must have been? What amazed me about his story of Noah was that out of all the people of the earth, God saved him because he was righteous. And I thought, oh no, if something like this happened today, would I be saved?
In 2Corinthians 5:21, it says "For our sake, He made Him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ." God made a way!
He also made Noah a promise that He wouldn't destroy the earth like that again!
Here's my crayon etching of Noah and the rainbow. To download a powerpoint about Noah for kids, you can go to www.4shared.com and search for noah.

Creative Faith Journal Workshop

Here are the ladies who attended my last workshop about creative faith journaling. What an enthusiastic group of sisters! After we gave our presentation, some of them shared how reluctant they were because they didn't have a creative bone in their body! But as one sister said, we just have to take one step at a time, just as in any learning experience! If we take one step towards God, He makes giant strides towards us- and our pilgrim's journey becomes a partnership of discovery.

Blog Candy Update: Look at all these goodies Susie from the UK is giving away!

Journal Fun!

I've been quite busy today. I finished 2 journals. First, I made several signatures. I then chose from my stash of vintage leather jackets which ones I would make into the covers. I cut the leather to size. One black jacket had a snap accent which I used for a closure. I embellished the red journal with a resin medallion. Sewing the signatures to the leather, wasn't as easy as I thought! You need to think about the process and I didn't, so I got into a lot of dead ends!

Blog candy update: Melissa is giving away some nice stuff on her blog. Taylor is offering some yummy colored chalk. Be sure to visit. Kim of Vancouver is putting some clear stamps up for grabs in celebration of her 100,000 hits.

The Light Shines in the Darkness

I'm giving a workshop this Saturday on "Creative Faith Journalling". I started doing this a few years ago and it's helped me "see God" during my prayer time. He's my collaborator, my partner, my companion. Adding collage, drawings, etc. to my journalling, has enriched my time with the Lord, -I've been wanting to share about it. It's like my father and I have a scrapbook of our times together, and I can enjoy the journey again as I read my entries and look at the pictures. "Like father, like daughter"- like my Father, I enjoy creating, and I can say, "It is very good!"

BLOG CANDY UPDATE- Hand Stamped by Lacey is giving out lots of paper and flowers, stamps and buttons to celebrate 50,000 hits. Wow! Jacqui of Cat's Whiskers is giving away a stamping video, ribbons, stamps, etc. Happy Birthday! Bev's birthday candy includes a kit, crochet flowers, a punch, etc. Visit All the Things I Love to see it. Some wonderful punches and lots of other goodies are up for grabs at Papercrafts by Rach up till the 22nd of February.

Birthday Journals

Look what I've been busy with the past days- two friends of mine had birthdays and I embellished the covers of these journals for them. I used different kinds of paper and fabric- wall paper, fabric glued on paper, paper on which I encoded poems and colored with acrylic and lastly, handmade paper. I cut up the paper and fabric into flowers, leaves, and flourishes. Then I made it into a collage, attached buttons, and stamped letters. It was a lot of fun to make and I'm sure my friends will appreciate them.

Here's a scrapbook page about the New Year's Day our family spent drawing. It's a great activity especially with the kids. We did mostly portraits of each other, and it's wonderful to look at the work we did that day. Robert, my brother, who is a graphic artist, shared some tips with the kids. I like using hands in my scrapbook pages, and I usually save magazine pages with hands and other body parts.

Putting the SCRAP back into Scrapbooking

I've been scrapbooking ever since I was young but I'm the type who puts the 'scrap' into the scrapbooking because I use magazine illustrations, and cut out letters, frames, words instead of buying materials! I also use vintage fabric and glue it on paper with half and half white glue and water. That makes the material easy to cut and I use this a lot for flowers and flourishes and swirls. Here's a collage picture of my dad, my son and my niece.

Of course I wouldn't be averse to using all the lovely blog candy available on the web! Here are some I'd love to win: Scrap-Creations, Imagine, Create and Inspire, and a work of HeART at Monica Zuniga's blog, and a primitive bunny at The Creator's Touch. Umm, blog candy is getting addicting!

Verdigris

Here are 4 ATCs I made for a swap at Swap-Bot. The theme was that the base had to be a map and I used bits and pieces of a map of Europe. I antiqued it with different acrylic colors and glued on dried flowers, stickers and bits and pieces of flourishes from my "magic book". (More on that later!)

Here in the Philippines, imported art materials like card stock, stickers,rubber stamps, distress inks., etc are so expensive. I don't use a lot of it and usually make do with things I cut out or make myself. So when I recently found "blog candy" on the web where all you have to do to join a raffle for lovely craft materials (stamps, cardstock, inks, etc.) is make a comment and put a link, I was ecstatic. Here are my recent finds while I've been blog hopping:
Hege-Annie's Hobby Blog (she's from Norway!) and Creating from the Heart by Melissa who is giving away a treasure trove of valentine stuff.

New Year Artivity

For the holidays, my family went to the beach. Apart from the usual things you do on the beach like swimming, sailing, kayaking, walking in the sand and taking pictures- we had another family art activity. We made 5 1/2" square cards using paint, wall putty (instead of gesso), paper, glue, scissors, pens, etc. My sister and my mom used sand on their work! It turned out interesting to say the least!








We shouldn't be afraid to try something different or new. You'll never know where it leads. Like when I started my creative faith journal and it led to a workshop. Or when my sister asked if I wanted to make a piece for an exhibit on a Chapter of the Gospel of John. I had never worked on a big canvas before but I said, "Yes!"- I learned a lot from making that collage, I also learned what not to do! Now our family is embarking on a new family project- a book! We'll see how that comes out. I guess that's how we grow- setting out in our little boat across uncharted waters.

Gifts

Here's a collage I did for my niece's Christmas present. I cut her picture out, glued it on a painted background, coated it with gesso and painted over it. I then used my stash of painted paper to make a frame.

I remember my niece when she was this age- so lovable, and so loved. She called me her valentine! Such a funny little girl- when my husband-to-be came visiting, she would say, "Auntie Patsy, you can go to sleep. I will entertain him." Or she would sit between us while we talked.

I can't believe she is 18 years old already! Still very precious and still very funny! I enjoyed making this frame for her. Here, she is wearing a "filipiniana", our national costume in the Philippines. My sister made it for her, and she looked really cute in it. Time spent in making things for others is always time well spent.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The greatest gift is a portion of thyself." Wish I had more time and more discipline to make my gifts to family last Christmas.

Speaking of gifts, through the course of my blog-hopping with the One World, One Heart Gypsy Caravan (my prize for this is a few posts down), I chanced upon blog candy on these sites:
Crafty Makes, Marlene's, and Siggi Shop. Who can resist craft supplies, paper, brads, flowers, etc? You can join their raffle which ends on Jan.31 and maybe, just maybe, get a nice gift for yourself!

Nothing is Impossible with God

This is a mixed media collage I did for an art auction to benefit patients suffering from kidney disease.

This has been years in the making- sometimes you don't like what you're doing and you leave it. That's what happened to this canvas. I sewed on some dark green cloth for hair and I didn't like the face. So I left it languishing and dusty on a shelf.
But this year I came back to it, covered up the face, pasted different colored paper around to frame it, and attached my favorite flourishes on the hair or the bandeau.

With art, you're not supposed to give up! God doesn't give up on us! Even if all we can see is the ugliness of sin, God sees what we can become! Truly nothing is impossible with God!

Psalm 139

I like using scraps, materials you would usually throw away. I try to find substitutes for expensive craft supplies. I make do with what I have. That's what my mother trained us to do ever since we were young- Reuse, Reduce, Recycle! is something we grew up with. Felt scraps would transform into "food" for our play kitchen, toilet paper rolls would become dolls with paper mache, bottles would turn into banks.
The downside is I seldom throw things away- I keep pistachio nut shells, corks, plastic bottles, candy wrappers,etc! All in the hopes that one day I'll use them for something fantastic!
One thing I've been doing lately is painting book pages. Some books I never want to read again and I can't think of anybody to give it to. So I tear the pages and paint the pages. Solid colors, stripes, checks, etc. So much fun! Then I cut them up to use for collages. I'm not expecting this to last forever as I usually use this for my journals and gifts to friends.
Here's something I did during one of my morning meditations. I used pages of a 2007 daily devotional.

Vegetable Vendor

Another favorite way of making art for me is Crayon and Pastel Etching. I did this on a 5 1/2" square of watercolor paper. First I made a sketch, then colored the sketch with ordinary crayon. After, I covered up the crayon with black pastel part by part (ie. all the flesh color, or all the greens). The final step is scratching out the black pastel and leaving bold outlines in between colors. It's quite easy to do but the results are quite rewarding. The original work was exhibited in the Ayala Museum for a while! That was exhilirating!

Miracles

Miracles come to those who wait! I had such fun making this collage! This was one of my first pieces and I didn't know much about making interesting backgrounds with lots of layers and textures- I just put together all the pieces and not thinking much about what was going to come out. But it all came together and I liked it! Isn't that the important thing? In the Bible, God says, "It is very good!" after He creates the water and earth, the animals, etc. When we create, we're like our Father, we're imitating Him. "Like Father, like daughter!" I think God found such satisfaction when He came up with the interesting animals, the beautiful flowers, the glorious sunset, etc, that He wanted us to share in His great gift of creativity. I am just filled with gratitude when I think of this wonderful gift He gave us in His generosity!

Journal page

Here's a page from my journal. For years my diaries were all words, words, words. I never went back to it. They were all just dumped in cardboard boxes. A couple of years ago I decided to make them more user-friendly--- bible verses and quotes from books I wanted to remember would be illustrated, embellished, emphasized. My prayer time is much more fruitful. Now, I regularly look through my notebook and am refreshed, fed and inspired anew.