Numbers 13 and 14 - The Hidden Treasures

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That's right, buried in the middle of chapter after of chapter of numbers of men in each tribe and more sacrifices for sin, are some treasures that can be easily passed over while trying to "just get through" the book of Numbers.  It is almost like someone dropped all the pages that Moses wrote and because the pages weren't numbered a few pages explaining their trip out of Egypt got put back in the wrong place... (not really, but kinda!) 

In the middle of Numbers we find out why the Israelites missed out on their "PROMISE" of the land flowing with milk and honey and spent the next 40 years wondering int the desert instead of receiving what God had for them.   GOD'S PLAN for them was to take them right into the promise land...BUT THEY LOST THE PROMISE because of FEAR OF MAN, rather than TRUST IN GOD...that, and they grumbled, yet again, about their circumstances!  

When I first realized all the above I started thinking about all of the promises I may have forfeited because of my fear of man, or circumstances, or complaining about the journey to the promise instead of trusting in and being patient with God!  SCARY!!!  So, I decided right then and there to stop thinking of myself as a grasshopper.  As long as God is on my side, I am NOT A GRASSHOPPER!

A few years ago I was getting prepared to lead a devotional on the subject and decided to read the "whole story"... when suddenly I saw that God views unbelief as CONTEMPT towards him!  LOOK THE WORD UP!!!   Forget, just being afraid!  God sees that as me DESPISING HIM!!!!  YOUCH!

If God makes a promise, TRUST HIM TO BRING YOU THROUGH TO IT!!!  Your ATTITUDE MATTERS!!!
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OH!  And I got a new tool to help keep my text lines straight!  It is called a SliderWriter.  VERY COOL!!!  I do everything in my lap on the sofa so this makes a great "table" and helps me write straight!... a long time desire. I still need to work on spacing between lines but that was my fault...there is a ruler on the right side so I should have been more consistant... but, I wrote the "Contempt" first so I didn't plan very well.... but, I am VERY HAPPY with it so far.

Spreading the Word, One Person at a Time....

I am continuing to work on my canvas RAKs with the 10 Commandments on the back. (GREAT TV watching thing to do)  Today I got 25 done, with no two the same .... Only just over 300 still to make :-)

Here are a few I did today ... sorry they are so dark, the lighting stinks where I took them... they are really much brighter than they appear here.

The main reason I like to have different designs is I get really bored working on the same thing for very long.  Because of that I will also stop a while and work on getting the elements for the wrapping ready.... Like the daisies ...made from punches and fabric covered 1/2" buttons.

and then I wrap them and draw different patterns on each wrapped canvas:

Again, please excuse the dark photo.  I used kraft bags to wrap each with so you know the color they should be!

Ten Commandments ... (3)

Today's Ten Commandments

It actually took three tries on this! It wasn't until the third time that I got smart enough to not draw the bottom of the border until the end so that I could continue to draw exactly the right number of lines! DER! And, if I were willing to do it yet again I wouldn't do the right side until i was finished either....thus avoiding the jammed words and maybe some of the gaps. Live and learn.

Moses - (part 1)

This particular challenge is taking me much longer to accomplished than I expected. When I started the plan was to draw one picture on each page of the 52 pages of my Bible Art Journal, one for each week. .... But, how do you do that?!  Everything is a picture for me.  Now, I suspect that will probably change, but, in the meantime, I'm not moving too fast!  

I guess you can probably tell this is about Moses, up through the plagues, or the first 12 chapters of Exodus. It is on 1/2 of a 5.5" x 8.5" page... So this part is actually only about 4.25"x 5.5".

It Takes Practice

So, today i practiced "real" writing with The Ten Commandments....for my "how many ways" challenge.

And I started working on my RAKs....

The front goes pretty quickly, I just don't love doing the back.

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Color Organizing Dos and Don'ts

New Year, time to organize right?

I bought myself some new toys for Christmas and I didn't love the containers they came in so I improvised....

First, I bought these:
Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Water Soluble Pastels

And then I found this carousel filled with 150 Crayola Crayons

I took all those out and replaced them with my watercolor crayons....happy girl! 
A definite DO!

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I also bought myself a set of 72 

Derwent Inktense Pencils

I reeeeally hate this container...cheap plastic trays and I am constantly knocking them around and dumping pencils out...I hate that because I want them in the correct order.  So...this time I just used what I had... a sewing machine, sheet protectors and embroidery sterilizer (the white background ... could just as easily have been fabric) ... and two of those ring thingies

I stitched 12 little "pockets" across the width then cut the top off.

Very Happy! Do!

Oh, and notice the color strip of color around the middle of the pencil?  I used mailing labels for that.  I colored each one with the color of the pencil then painted with water (since these are watercolor pencils).  I always do this with new color pencils because the color on the end of the pencil is an  AWFUL color match!  This way I KNOW what color it will really be.

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One more thing I got was this thing:

I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT!!!!  Here's why:

I spent hours doing this with all my Distress Inks so that I could easily use them to paint, (Tim Holtz does a whole video on this stinkn' thing!) 

and a few days later it fell to the floor and THIS is what I got:

ARGH!!!!  DON'T! x10

NO! They Can't Take That Away From Me!

As usual when I start reading the Bible from the beginning, I can't get past Exodus.  I LOVE EXODUS!  (I think I've said that before)

I've been meditating a lot on the 10 Commandments and how far off we are from it now so I created a Pinterest Board and I think that I'm going to start a "series" on the 10 Commandments.

Challenge: How many ways I can show them? Here is something I did last night: 

Has anyone noticed how upset people are right now about the possibility of the government taking away their guns?  I have...and I find myself just as upset about it....no, I don't own a gun, don't want one, but to be told I can't have it makes me a little crazy.  But, that isn't my point here... my point here is that I wish there were as many people as upset and vocal about the government forcing the 10 Commandments out. That makes me REALLY CRAZY!  I've been thinking about that a lot lately...so my answer to that is to put it everywhere I have control over.... hence the list to the right >>>

Another thing I've decided to do is make A BUNCH of 4 x 4 canvases and pass them out to anyone and everyone...waiters, mailman, store clerk, whoever!  But rather than being "in your face" with it I decided to say something on the front that I think is a "good word" but not controversial... but, I am putting the 10 Commandments on the back as a liner.  Here is my prototype:

I know, kinda sloppy, but I'll do better on the real deal....maybe, I have ordered 384 canvases so I need to be able to make them FAST!

Wondering why the number 384?  :-)  They sell them in packs of 24 and I bought as many as I had to to get the next price break...I'm all about price breaks.

Here is what I ordered from Dick Blick to get the ball rolling....

Item	Item Detail	Price	Qty	Subtotal
07015-1044	DB ECONO CANVS PANEL - 4INX4IN 24/PK	$2.51	16	$40.16
19900-1129	SHARPIE BRUSH MARKER - ASSRTD 12/SET	$15.26	1	$15.26
21383-0089	SHARPIE CHISEL TIP - 8 COLOR SET	$7.05	2	$14.10
21383-2020	SHARPIE CHISEL TIP - BLACK	$.95	12	$11.40

Check out the price of the canvases!  That's a little over 10 cents a piece!  Not a bad price for so many RAKs....and putting the 10 Commandments "out there".

I know, its a bit of overkill on the markers, but I was going for the the price break AND I don't know how many it will take for that many canvases!

Let me know if you want to do something like this and I'll send you the 10 Commandments liner file.

I get the order tomorrow, so excited.

The 10 Commandments... NO, they can't take THAT away from me!

I would LOVE more ideas/help for getting it out there.

Can You Guess What I'm Working On

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OF COURSE God Can Use YOU!

Exodus 4:2 "What is that in your hand"?

All Moses had was a STICK!  If God can use an 80 year old man and a STICK, of course He can use YOU!

Case in point:

In May of last year I posted one of my first attempts at drawing what the Lord showed me in the Word... this one:

Well, imagine my SHOCK yesterday when I saw it on Facebook!  One of my friends had shared it from another friend that (I think) got it from a FB site called There Is Power In The Blood Of Jesus .... WHAT?!!.... I knew that it had been "pinned" on Pinterest a lot of times (? not sure how many?) but I just never expected it to just show up like that!  The super cool thing about it is that it has been shared on FB 1012 times!... in less than 2 days from the original upload to that site.  That means that at least that many people have been blessed by something I did, sitting here "just playing" with "what was in MY hand"... over 7 months ago.

No, they don't know me from anybody... there is zero reference to me and my site anywhere (until I commented...but who will actually read that?!)... But you know what, that is a GOOD THING!  It isn't about me!  It is about what GOD can do with a little task HE GAVE ME to do.  AWESOME!!!!  

And, even more awesome is that He let me see it!  WOW!

PS... don't get me wrong, I don't want anyone "stealing" my drawings to make money .... but to bless folks with the digital form? Sure!  Reference back here is the hope. :-)  I've prayed over everything and asked God to protect any recognition that HE wants me to get, so I'm confident that HE has that covered!

Yes, God Can/Will Use Even You

this week I have been in Exodus again. I LOVE EXODUS!!! there is just so much to learn about God and His ways there. Like this....

Think about it. While God was explaining how to build the tabernacle, how to make the priest's clothes, telling Moses that He wanted Aaron and his sons to be those priests.... Aaron was down the mountain BUILDING THE GOLD CALF "god" !!! And then he lied to Moses about it! "I threw the gold into the fire and OUT CAME THIS CALF." !!! LIE!!! But you know God knew all that before he let Moses know he was going to use Aaron.

People feel so guilty and/or unworthy and/or inapt they think there is no way God could/would use them.... BUT GOD....

Hummmmm.... I was thinking that I might use "Perservere" as my word for 2013 but I think that just changed.... This year my word(s) are "BUT GOD..."