And the Winner is...

 

I finally found some time to make a post to announce the winner for my Easter giveaway.  Thank you to everyone who left me a comment! I truly appreciate all of you!  And the winner is number...

(I just love having numbered comments!  It makes picking a winner so much easier.  I wrote a post about how I put numbers in case you're interested.)  Anyway...

Congratulations, Sonya!  Sonya has a blog called "Counting My Blessings" where she shares about faith and family, arts and crafts, gardening and thrifty finds.  Go visit her and see the wonderful collages she makes. Again, thank to everyone who joined my giveaway.  Til the next time, hugs and blessings to you!

Edit:  Sonya wrote such a lovely post about  her win!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Goodies in the Mail!

Happy Wednesday, blog friends!  I haven't been that successful in cleaning up my desk.  That's why I'm only showing you a little part of it!  On my desk today are a few pieces of my art (the ATC of the woman and the princess drawing on the left) and some lovely things that arrived in the mail. There's a cuff bracelet that I won as a prize in the One World One Heart event last February.  It is made by Barbara, also known as Lady Faith, of Blossom's Bloomers and she titled this piece "Diamonds are a Steampunkers Best Friend." Pretty!

Then there are some artist trading cards (ATCs) that I received for trades at ATCs for All.  The ATC of the Madonna and Baby was specially made for me.  And I also got some lovely fabric cards that I have put on display before I put them in my ATC album. Aren't they pretty?

For more desks to peek at, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground.  And while you're at it, why not show us your desk, whatever state it's in!

A Joyful Easter Giveaway!

(The Giveaway is now closed.
Thank you for all your comments.
I will announce the winner in the next post.)

 A very blessed and joyful Easter to all of you,
my wonderful blog friends and visitors!  

"Gentle"

St. Augustine once said 

“We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song!”

and indeed, Alleluia is my song!

And to celebrate, I'm having a giveaway!

I was preparing for a 300 follower giveaway, 

until I realized that Easter is an infinitely better reason to celebrate!  

My giveaway for Easter is an original 5.75" x 8" mixed media piece entitled "Gentle."  I made it using colored pencils, watercolors and collage on a gessoed sketchpad background.  The flowers on her hair, the bookpaper leaves, the music sheet heart, the buttlerfly and the lace on her dress is collaged on.

For me, this piece is a reminder and encouragement to focus on things above...

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." Colossians 3:1

It is an encouragement for me to speak with love, to listen, to be gentle... (2 Timothy 2:24)

If you like "Gentle," and would like a chance to win it...

1. For one entry, simply leave a comment on this post.

2. If you are a follower and would like a second entry, please leave a second comment on this post.

3.  If you would like third entry, make a post about the giveaway, or post it on the sidebar of your blog and link it to this post.  Please make a third comment on this post to tell me where you added it to your blog.

You may use this image

I will be using the random number generator, so please make sure you leave me a comment for each entry you make.  Since I will be going out of town, I will pick the winner after May 22. 

May you have a wonderful Easter season!

Pilgrim's Progress

I have just been to visit Plymouth, Massachusetts so the word pilgrim has been on my mind.

Pil·grim (pil′grəm)

noun

1. a person who travels about; wanderer
2. a person who travels to a shrine or holy place as a religious act
3. ☆ any member of the band of English Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620
   (from YourDictionary.com)

In Plymouth, is an important symbol in American history...

...Plymouth Rock, the traditional site of disembarkation of the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.  The Pilgrims were English Separatists who came to America to seek religious freedom.

Here is the Mayflower II moored at Plymouth Harbor.  It is an accurate replica of the Mayflower which transported the Pilgrims to America.  It was so interesting for me to see these places where the pilgrims first settled in America.







I see myself as a pilgrim too, not only traveling and seeing new places, but journeying through life, just as this song says...

Amen. May all who come behind us find us faithful.
Linking up with Then Sings my Soul Saturday.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Complete Disarray!

My excuse for the chaotic state of my desk is I just came back from a trip to Boston.  See the evidence of all the pamphlets I brought home (more about my trip in later posts)...

It may seem funny (my hubby thinks so), but on my shopping list was freezer paper, since I wanted to try out inkjet printing on fabric.  Then there are some books I bought in an Essex antique store for a dollar each (even the big one about drawing the human figure).  One of them is dated 1902!

 

Did you notice that I even brought home a shell from one of the stuffed clams we ate in Rockport, MA?  

I bought a new Canon Power Shot G12 camera and I hope to learn more about photography (are my pictures any better today?)...
 

  

And here is my giveaway painting.  If you would like a chance to win it, just leave a comment on this post before May 22 (if you haven't yet).  Please be sure to leave one comment for each entry you make.

And why in the world am I showing you my mess?  Because that's what we do on Wednesdays for "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday"?  Come join the fun!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Tourist Stuff

Guess where I am today!  On my "desk" are a few things I bought at the SoWa Open Market, where I had a wonderful time last Sunday looking at all the art and indie design shops.  That little handmade bookmark is from AnneMadeDesigns.  And the bottle of DG3 is from Bead+Fiber.  Then there is a bracelet from Recyled SilverWare.

That's all I have time for today.  Linking up to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Til next time, happy WOYWW!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday: A Hodge-podge

 

It's another one of those days when there is hardly any space left on my desk.  I bought a new clipboard (buried under the books and watercolor paints).  If there isn't any space left on the desk, at least my WIP will be on a flat surface when I paint!

 

The book about the "Basilica of San Marco" is there because my eldest son was in Venice for Easter and while he was there, I was reminiscing about that wonderful place (and trying not to be envious).

I have been doing the Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise program (whaaat, exercise!?)    I figured I would try it since it only takes 12 minutes a day (the shorter the better).  It's been a month and so far so good (giving myself a pat on the back and so "chuffed"! - I learned that word from WOYWW).  It starts out really easy and progresses as the days go by.  I want to make a chart for the different exercises so that I don't have to keep opening the book.  If you are interested to try it out, you can download the Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise program here.

Then there's a pamphlet of Las Casas Filipinas de Azucar, a place a few hours away from where we live that I want to visit. 

It is described as "a community typical of the 18^th to early 20^th century Philippines...where old and decaying architectural  pieces of a  bygone era...have been carefully and painstakingly reconstructed from different parts of the country and rebuilt, 'brick by brick' and  'plank by plank.'"

Not much progress in my Mother and Child project...
 

and on my computer screen, a live video feed of a nest of eagles that Traci shared about in her blog.  So interesting and educational!

This week I actually got to post twice in between Wednesdays!   Watching the Royal Wedding inspired me to share about my own Easter Season Wedding.   And my David Wilkerson "coincidence" was also something I had to share.

There's still time to join my Easter giveaway if you would like to! 

Check out more desks joining What's on your Workdesk Wednesday this week.
Happy WOYWW, everyone!

An Easter Season Wedding

I, too, had an Easter season wedding.  After being a widow for 9 years, I got married a second time; a new life, spring after winter, Easter after Good Friday...

"My beloved said to me,

‘Come then, my love, my darling,

The winter is over;

The rains have stopped;

In the countryside the flowers are in bloom.

This is the time for singing...

Song of Songs 2:10-12

Yes, a time for singing.  And this is the song that we sang as I walked down the aisle that day nine years ago...

We are the children of Easter morning
We sing to celebrate our new lives
The dawn of an eternal morning
The fulfillment of our ageless desires
We sing with joy in our hearts overflowing
We sing to beckon those who dwell in the dark
We'll keep on singing till all men celebrate
This Easter morn

We are the children of Easter morning
We sing to proclaim the Lord's might
Now there's meaning to our life of dying
For the Lord, our God, has conquered the night
With joy we dedicate our lives to the service
Of the God of Life whose goodness we've known
Until our lives be themselves our song of Easter morn

May our simple lives be a song of praise
To the goodness of the Lord
May the Lord delight in this song we sing
This song we live with joy
If we had to sing just one song
To the Lord, Creator of life
May our lives be that song resounding in praise
To the goodness and glory of God

As I watched the Royal wedding yesterday, I was struck by some of the words spoken by the Anglican Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Chartres (Excerpts copied from this post)...

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves...

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its center beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centeredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love...

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art...

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practice and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace...

Indeed, in marriage we must die to ourselves just as the song says, and "wean ourselves away from self-centeredness."   More important than a lavish wedding ceremony is how we live out our marriage.  And indeed, no matter how simple, "every wedding is a royal wedding!"

April 20, 2002

Linking up to Then Sings my Soul Saturday
and Spiritual Sundays.

David Wilkerson and the Cross and the Switchblade

Today, I finished rereading "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book I first read when I was a young girl coming to know the Lord in a deeper way.   At that time, when I read about how the author, David Wilkerson, experienced God's guidance and power, I was amazed!  Was it still possible, in this day and age to experience God in this way?  I asked myself.  Was it possible for me?  (Yes, it is!)  This book encouraged me to continue to seek God and know more of His ways.

The book tells of how David Wilkerson started a Christian ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s.  The ministry was eventually called "Teen Challenge" and many young people's lives were changed because of it.

Today, I googled David Wilkerson.  I was wondering what had become of Teen Challenge (Global Teen Challenge now has more than 1000 Teen Challenge programs in 80 countries.)  To my dismay and amazement, I found a news article that had just come out saying David Wilkerson had just died in a car accident.  Wow, it felt so strange.  I am saddened at the news but at the same time, I rejoice in a life so well lived.  Til the end, he served God, even writing an amazingly appropriate blog post on the day he died.

"Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your master."  Matthew 25:23

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: I'm an Artist!

On my desk today...

my Madonna and Child work in progress and the One World One Heart prize I received from Bridget of  Stitchety Grub...(a "handmade textile bookmark made out of dispersal dyed fabric- with shiva/Markel stick embellishment, a butterfly and 3 Couronne (needle lace technique) dangly rings and a small mixed bag of textured threads and fabric scraps")...

a few pages of my childhood poems and drawings which I plan to scan...

two of my ATCs and the one on the right side is from Doone (thank you so much!)...

and the art materials I received from my hubby for our wedding anniversary last April 20!

This is what I came home to on my anniversary!  Surprise!  An easel and a canvas...

oil paints, acrylics, brushes, spatulas, Linseed oil, turpentine and even the funny shaped wooden palette that says to me, "You are an artist!"

 

Linking up to What's on your Workdesk Wednesday and inviting you to join my Easter giveaway!