It's Friday! "Just Scootin by" with a Couple of Challenges

Hello Delightful Friends and Family!! 

You all are probably excited because it's FRIDAY!!  (It's also payday, double YAY!!)  Hope you've all had a great week.  I have my house de-Christmasized with the help of my dear hubby and it's back to normal (somewhat normal, I still have the Christmas tablecloth under the "stuff" on the kitchen table that will be next on the list today to take care of!) And I must admit, there are dishes in the sink because I spent the evening after Bible Study in my craft room.  I've a number of birthdays this month and I needed to get a start on some cards!  So I let it slide.... It's so like me :-)

 I was inspired by a couple of challenges and I was excited to use my Sweet Stamp Shop stamps (Scootin' By set) since they are sponsoring the prize at the Play Date Cafe Challenge blog AND I could incorporate some Kraft paper (which I love to use!)

1. Play Date Cafe Challenge (#113) - Color challenge (see picture)

2. Make It Monday With Kraft "Anything Goes Challenge" - The Kraft Journal

I paper pieced, did some fussy cutting and colored with my Copic Markers.  The finished card is A2 (4.25 x 5.5)

(Inside)

Ingredients:  Paper: Bazzill and Neenah card stock; Designer Paper: My Minds Eye - Stella Rose collection; Inks: Palette, Black and Distress Ink: Antique Linen (used to sponge around the mint green and white card stock); Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities Reversed Wonky Rectangle; Cuttlebug (ProvoCraft) Fiskars Upper Crest Border Punch; Copic Markers: BG0000, BG53; YG00, YG41; CO; Spica Pens, Melon and Turquoise;

Thanks for looking and God bless!!

Here is a verse from Philippians 4:8(KJV) to encourage you:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Bonjour! (PDCC#112)

Hello Delightful Friends and Family!

Wow, two posts in one day!  It's been a while since I've played along in a challenge so it's fun to start the new year with one of my favorite challenge sites - The Play Date Cafe!   It's a color challenge (#112)   

Details:  Designer Paper: My Minds Eye (Stella Rose) and Doodlebug Designs (Petite Prints - Grasshopper); Card Stock, Bazzill;  Stamps:  Taylored Expressions - Birds of a Feather and Labels of Love; Ink: Palette Black; Ribbon (American Crafts); Copic Markers G000, C0; Kenmore Sewing Machine; Cuttlebug (ProvoCraft); Spellbinders Nestablities Labels Sixteen (part of my Christmas gift from my dear hubby!) Finished card is A2. 

I'm loving my new camera lense another Christmas gift from my sweet hubs!! 

Thanks so much for looking and leaving a delightful comment!  Have a fabulous day!

Gospel Of John Bible Study - Chapter 14 verses 7-11

Hello and Happy New Year to all my delightful friends and family!

We are still experiencing technical difficulties at Our Daily Bread Designs Forum and so I'll be posting the Gospel of John Bible Study here until further notice.  We are in chapter 14 and I've been writing this study for over 2 years now.  If you are new to this blog just a little info about me and this study.  I was on the Christian Paper Crafts Design team and part of my service to the Christian Paper Crafts site was teaching the Bible Study and it was open for everyone to see but the site was sold to Kelley Holland who owns ODBD Stamps and my services on the DT were no longer needed since they already had two DT's already in place but Kelley was kind enough to allow me to continue to teach the Bible Study and post it there.  I'm still posting it on that site, but it is not open to the public at this time.

( I'm going to post it just as it is written at ODBD Forum and please feel free to comment! I did do a little editing but nothing significant from the original)

We are continuing the Gospel of John Bible Study today and hopefully you are ready to be challenged to grow in faith.  So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

Please take a moment to pray and prepare your heart and may there be a willingness to be instructed by the Holy Spirit as you study this weeks lesson! God’s blessing to you.

The Father Revealed

John 14:7-11

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

The Lord seems to be rebuking the disciples for their lack of understanding here in this first verse (verse 7) We have already read in John chapter 8 that Jesus had taught that God was His Father and it created quite an uproar with the Pharisees.  Fortunately, Jesus was working on God’s timetable and was not arrested, (remember, His time had not yet come – I encourage you to reread John 8).  For these Jewish disciples this teaching is still very new and without the Holy Spirit to reveal these truths to them, I can only imagine the confusion they may have been experiencing.

Remember what John 14:6  says  “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me”.

In those next verses, Jesus asks the disciples  “Do you not believe….”

#1  …He is in the Father

 #2   The words that He speaks are the Father’s 

 #3  The works that He does are the Father’s.

Then He says “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me,”

And then  He says, “Or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Jesus wants the disciples to get this!  We cannot separate the words or the works of Jesus because both come from the Father and reveal the Father to us.  He is our Creator, our Father, no wonder we have no need to have troubled hearts!!  We can have reassured hearts that we are His children and are in His hands.

 Have you ever read the Bible and you just don’t quite grasp what is being stated?  Sometimes it is so easy to understand and then other times it just goes over your head?  When this happens, then we must continue to pray and read the Word, do not give up.  If you keep studying and proving Scripture with Scripture, the understanding will come, the Lord knows what we have need of and will reveal His Word to us.  I believe the Holy Spirit plays a huge part in our learning, especially when we put forth the effort and have a desire to learn and a willing heart to listen to Him.  He wants to reveal the Word to us. The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we can know Jesus better!  (John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13)

I believe that our attitudes play a big part in learning, too.  Here are three keys to successful studying.  Add prayer to each one and have a journal and pen in hand and watch yourself grow in the Lord!  It should be each of our goals to be more like Jesus, in our words and actions. We must apply what we are learning to be fruitful for the Kingdom.  Trust me when I say it can be quite an adventure!

(Have the heart of the Psalmist! Read Psalm 119)

#1. Desire to learn

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.   Psalms 119:18

2.  A willing heart to listen: we are instructed throughout Scripture to “hear”

I will hear what God the LORD will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly. Psalm 85:8

If you have time this week do a word study on “listen or hear” it can be a real eye opener!! 

3.  Put forth the effort.  

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.   2 Timothy 2:15

In the days which we are living it is so important to know the Father.  Not just facts although that certainly is part of it.  But to know Him in an intimate relational way.  It is having a deeper communion with our Heavenly Father, it is not a religious duty, it is a delight!  Paul said it well in Philippians 3:8-17 ( …that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,… verse 10)

The burning desire of every believer should be to know God better.  That is why we do Bible studies, read devotionals, pray, and worship the Lord… That I may know Him.

May this year be a new beginning of growth for you in your relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Please do not let the cares of this world stumble you.  God is faithful and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) That is a promise with wonderful strings attached!! :-)  To God be the glory!

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

I would love to hear your comments and remember something you share may be just the thing someone needs to read today to encourage them in the faith!  Thank you for your continued prayer support!  I truly covet your prayers.

With affection,

Natalie

Glad Tidings of Great Joy!

Hello Delightful Friends and Family!
Happy New Year's Eve to you all.  I thought I'd do something a bit different in todays post.  Normally I show a paper craft project or pics of family but this post is a Bible Study that I shared a week before Christmas at Our Daily Bread Designs Forum (formally, Christian Paper Crafts).  For some reason the studies are not being made public as they were before and until they are again I will be posting in both places.  We've been blessed with a Gospel that is free to "whosoever" and I just don't feel right about the studies not being made public. (Kelley - the owner of the site, is checking for me to see if that can be changed).

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US AND WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY!! (PSALM 126:3)

Joy – Greek Chara; Hebrew – Sameach
Meaning: rejoicing, gladness, merry, glad, merryhearted, celebrate.
This is His eternal and internal(!) gift to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer is that the eternal would rule your joy, rather than the external!

We’ve been given “glad tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10)

Here are some wonderful gifts the Lord has supplied abundantly to each of us.  It is my prayer that this would be a springboard for you to search the Scriptures for yourselves to see all the blessings that Lord has for us:

Salvation:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,              1 Thessalonians 5:9

PEACE:
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

TRUTH:
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."       John 14:6

HIS SPIRIT:
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." John 15:26


"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."    John 16:7


"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." John 16:13


HIS LOVE:
"And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:26

FREEDOM:
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 31-32

HIS WORD:
"But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." John 17:13-17


Luke 10:17-20 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."



As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we are encouraged to persevere in the knowledge that the Lord is coming back! I pray that our upward look towards Jesus would dictate our attitudes rather than the hustle and bustle that comes so often with the Christmas season. May our hearts sing throughout the year - Joy to the World!

Amen and Maranantha!

In Christian love,
Natalie

It was a very Merry Christmas!

Hello delightful friends and family!  We had a wonderful Christmas and I was busy behind the camera and of course was focused on the grandkids.  It was a very busy two days but it was so fun to watch the little ones. 

Tucker Lynn (age 1) all ready for the festivities to begin on Christmas Eve!

Our daughter Kelly's family (Addy was excited over every gift, it was so cute!)

Christmas Day at Gee-Gee's (great Grandma's house) - Jakob opening up his new Bumblebee (Transformer) as Riley looks on.

Addy giving Riley a big hug!  Sweet cousins, they are playing so well together.  LOVE this picture!

Showing off their new S.F. Giants jackets.(Riley age 4, Addy age 2-1/2)

Sean, Amy and their youngest daughter, Tucker.  Cousin Will looking on.

Tucker checking out a Christmas bulb while sitting on Poppa's lap.

Thanks for visiting!!  Have a fantastic week & God bless!

Merry Christmas from Mimi (Penny Black)

Hello Delightful friends and family!

Here are a few cards I made for the girls at work this week.  This is one of my favorite stamp lines from Penny Black "Mimi" is the name of this adorable character.  These images are from a clear stamp set called Mimi's Christmas.  All are colored with my Copic markers. 

Paper: My Minds Eye: 12 Days of Christmas;  Neenah Card stock; Distress Ink, broken china; Memento, rich cocoa and fun accents using Spica pens and Liquid Pearls.   Can you tell she going downhill, I've torn the paper for the white to show to look like snow.

Inside of the above card: Stamp, Taylored Expressions, Woodland winter set; Spellbinders, Nestie Oval Scallops.

Same papers as above with the addition of American Crafts ribbon and Polka Dot embossing folder (ProvoCraft) 

Same Designer Paper, Bazzill and Neenah card stock. I've used the Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle and the Christmas Tree Die from Taylored Expressions.

Designer Paper: Making Memories, Twinkle collection; Bazzill card stock; Neenah Bright White card stock; Ribbon (stash)  Distress Ink: Aged Mahogany around edges.

Designer Paper : Memory Box; Embossing folder (ProvoCraft) Snowflakes, Scallop Eyelet border Die and Tiny Twinkles (Taylored Expressions)

Thanks for looking, sorry for the quick post but I've got to go check my list.....again!!  Shopping and baking to finish!  Merry Christmas!

Jake and Miss Addy-tude!

Hello Delightful friends and family!  As promised the pictures that did not get on the Christmas card!  We have here mild mannered Jakob and then little miss Addy-tude!  Can you tell?  I applaud professional photographers and their patience and perseverence with children!

This just makes me laugh!

Silly!

Getting bored with this picture taking!

 

 

Sit still Sissy!

After 83 pictures my daughter did narrow it down to five. I do love the "less than perfect" which truly shows the fun and sometimes exasperating personality of the little ones and these are definitely scrapbook worthy!!

Have a wonderful day and I hope these have brought a smile to your face and a giggle or two!