Christmas in July

I went to a Christmas in July sale last week and it made me start thinking about Christmas. The heat here has been hot, which is nice for a change, but I was thinking about snow falling and how good it would feel in the middle of summer. Then yesterday I talked to my daughter and she and her family will be here for Christmas this year and that made me excited to watch the new grand baby experience it all. Happy, happy thoughts! My mother always told me that I would wish my life away so I will come back to reality and enjoy the summer while it is here but a momentary trip to the future is allowed from time to time.

Summer Heat

Yesterday, I went to SCRAP http://www.scrapaction.org/ with my niece. We dug through the junk to find treasures. I managed to come home with a large bag of stuff. Some of it was containers but I found these vintage postcards and had to use one in my art journal when I got home. The image is so sweet and the colors are so yummy. Quite a few of my pages this summer are created in these colors. I used the Bohemia transparencies for the first time and I think they are so pretty. I got those at http://www.paperdoll-co.com/. They had an amazing sale this last week. After we went to SCRAP we went to lunch at the Tin Shack or was is Tin Can, I can't remember but it was good food and so rustic. We had to wait quite a while for the food but it gave us a good time to talk and catch up with everything. At one point we wandered onto the topic of high school and I was laughing so hard I had to lay my head on the table. My niece can get me laughing like no one else. Usually it is in the middle of church or some other place you shouldn't be laughing but never the less, she gets me going and I can't stop. I remember quite clearly an Easter Sunday, sitting in church and she got me going. I held it in but then the whole pew shakes because of it. Just when I would finally get it under control, I would see her out of the corner of my eye and start all over again. It was so bad. When we got back to her house we stood outside and talked so long I think I got some color on my face. Which probably means the freckles are starting to pop. I will have to check.

You're Fabulous Darling!

As I was putting this page together it reminded me of Psalm 139: 13-14. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it. I have heard it stated that God is such a marvelous painter. We see it in nature all the time but who thinks of themselves as God's masterpieces? Is God able to teach, inspire, delight, encourage, inform and uplift others through my life as Joni's quote says? What kind of a difference could I make in this world by embracing who God made me and letting Him use me in those ways. What if the girl on this page started talking to me and telling me that I did an awful job creating her and that she was ugly or stupid or fat. I'd say, "Hey I created you and if I say you are beautiful then it is true." I need to learn to believe what my creator says about me and not talk back to Him. You are Fabulous girl, now believe it!

Jounaling Doggy

My little puppy, Lily Lou, has decided to help me paint today. Usually it is my cat that crawls into my lap when I am working on some detail of my art journal and she is shedding right now so cat hair is flying at the same time. They are so sweet and lovable it is hard to shoo them off. I guess it would help if I worked on my journal at a table but I like to work on it as I watch TV sitting on my bed. What a rough life.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. The day started with going out to lunch at Applebees. Then we met our good friends at their house and drove down to a mall and shopped around, ate dinner and then headed over to the St. Paul Rodeo. The weather was great and the rodeo was exciting. I went one time as a little girl but haven't been since. My kids were very perplexed when I told them where we were going. What they don't know is there is a cowgirl buried deep inside me. I would wear the fringed leather jacket, jeans, cowboy boots and hat if I thought I could get away with it. We even talked about moving to Montana at one time and I know I could wear that stuff there. I really enjoyed myself and I am glad our friends invited us along because I don't think I could have dragged my husband there on my own although he did have a good time too. I do own a pair of really great cowboy boots and would have worn them if it hadn't have been so hot. It was amazing the beating those cowboys get on those bucking bulls and horses. One guy got his hand stuck and when he fell off he couldn't get his hand loose and was whipped around and flipped quite a few times before his hand was released. It was really scary. Other than that it was all fun.

Believe

I have been thinking about what it takes to believe God. Not belief in Him but believing what He says. Does that mean believing He can do anything if He chooses to or believing He will do it? Seems pretty basic but there are very intelligent people who take both sides. I don't think I will solve that debate today. Thankfully at the heart of it all is God's unconditional love. Here is a verse I used in this page.
The Lord is my strength, my sheild from every danger. I trust in Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. Ps 28:7
I do believe that!

Hiding in the grass

I have been working in my summer art journal and remembering memories of childhood summers. One of those memories was from when I was 5 years old. We lived in a farmhouse owned by my great aunt. She was old and so we took care of her and it allowed her to live in her own home until she died. The property was quite a few acres and next to the house was a huge field. Someone would come and mow the field about once a year but before they came the grass would get very tall. I would go out into the field and lie down and roll around to clear a patch of grass so that it made what I called a fort. No one could see me and I was in my own world. I would play for hours pretending. It was my private place and if you crawled from one patch to another you could have passageways to other rooms. Even as a little child I enjoyed time alone and used my imagination to create other worlds to get lost in. My art journal has become that place for me as an adult. I get lost in the memories and using my imagination to create pages that did not exist before. That is why on this page you see a little girl and an adult. Both are hiding in the grass letting their imaginations soar like a butterfly full of color and life. Free from expectations of daily life.