WOYWW: Gratefulness, Pearls and Lace

I am grateful!  Last week I found The Words of Me Project where Leslie is having the "52 Words 52 Weeks" Challenge, "Each week you will be given a WORD to think about, write about, scrap about, collage about and LIVE. Each word will be positive and uplifting in order to better our days, our weeks, our months, our year!"

The word last week was "Gratitude" and indeed, I have much to be grateful for.  As I continued working on my Song of Songs lady, I continued to reflect on the beautiful words that inspired me to start making her.  "How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil... You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace."Song of Songs 4:1,9  How lovely to think of a LOVE like this, that even when we grow older and wrinkles start coming out, even when we are tired and so busy, even when we are not our best selves, Someone still loves us and thinks we are so beautiful. 

By now, I have painted the background, including some text which reads, "You are beautiful, my Beloved, you are beautiful - Song of Songs."  (When I look at myself in the mirror in the morning, with my hair all over the place and with no makeup on my face, I will remind myself of these words).

I have added the lace veil and a pearl necklace.  She looks like a bride, doesn't she?  I will add a bit of gold poster paint and then she will be finished.

I am grateful that my desk is a lot tidier this week!  It's hard to find stuff when it's all buried under other things.  For a peek at more desks, drop by Julia's blog.  Doni is having a Pearls and Lace Giveaway in her blog and I'm linking this up with her link party.

And yes, I am grateful for all of you who come visit and leave me such sweet and encouraging words!  Thank you so much!  Remember, I was planning a giveaway for when I reached 200 followers?  I am grateful for each one of my followers and it's time for my giveaway!  I will make a post about it next time and I hope you can come back and join it!   

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Song of Songs

I really, really thought I would have a tidy desk to show this week on WOYWW (visit Julia if you don't know what WOYWW is).  I had visions of a tidy desk with everything in it's place, and right in the middle of the desk, my work in progress.  As you can see, that was just a dream.

I had started cleaning up but I just kept thinking of a few verses from the Song of Songs (Chapter 4) that I recently heard someone read out.  The Song of Songs is a love poem and is often interpreted as an allegory of God's love for his people...
  
How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil... You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.

And I kept thinking of drawing a woman with a veil with eyes not quite facing forward.  I would make it a collage and use real lace for her veil.

And so I started making a portrait, even if there was not enough space on my workdesk.  I even had to put the watercolor paints on top of the pile of books and other stuff.  And see how the paper is sticking out because it couldn't fit?

So as for the tidy desk, I can always try again for next week.  How about you?  What's on your Workdesk?  Julia has the list of desks you can visit.  Why not join in?

My Life in Community Collage

Last weekend, I helped give a retreat to 60 women.  The theme was "Women of God, Women of Community, Living in the World, but not of the World".  My part was to guide them in the creative activity of making a graphic presentation of the story of their life in our Christian Community.  I took the same retreat a long time ago and I brought the collage I made then as an example.  Here is my collage...

Some of the women thought they weren't creative at all.  I tried my best to convince them that they could do it and to just give it a go.  They gamely tried doing the assignment and found out they enjoyed making them.    They discovered that they were creative after all!  Here are some of their collages...

 

I was soooo delighted!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday: Mother and Child

Well, that's the state of my desk, hardly anything has changed except for more piles of stuff all around (even on top of my laptop!)  I was so tempted to clean up before taking the picture but then, what's the point of WOYWW if I don't show you the real thing.  (Visit Julia if you want to join or know more about WOYWW).

But, there is no more space to work comfortably so as soon as I took this picture, I started putting things in their proper places - pencils in the mugs, scissors in the blue container on the left, rubber stamps in a box on the shelf, ink pad in a bottom drawer, checkbook(!) also in a drawer, throw out the water... I am not yet done.

I have made some progress in the Mother and Child piece I am working on and perhaps it is finished (who knows)...

I added a bit of gold stamping, colored pencil, magazine paper, a flower stamp and some text from a clipping from a devotional.  It goes...
 

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paint his own nature into his pictures." 

Henry Ward Beecher

and...

"In everything we create, works of art, music, literature, even our children - a bit of ourselves is revealed."

And the devotional goes on to say, "the same is true of God; each of us reveals a bit of Him."  Thinking of my own children, and looking at this Mother and Child piece, I remember the verses in Ephesians 2:10, "You are God's work of art."  And so, I delight to think that we are all beautiful in some way, because we are made "in His own image. Genesis 1:27

Anyone want to suggest a title for my Mother and Child?

WOYWW: A Mystery Solved and a Giveaway in the Making!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all my visitors last week!  What wonderful comments I get every Wednesday!  If you don't know what WOYWW is, drop by Julia's blog and she'll tell you about it!

Remember the foreign language book that I shared about in a previous post?  WOYWW has helped me I find out what language it is in!  I visited Tini-Tin and thought to myself, hmmm, this text looks familiar!  When I asked her if she could help me, she wrote me to say, "As I can see, the book is in Russian. I'm from Bulgaria. The languages are similar, but not equal. The book is abut the popular culture in middle ages and the Renaissance."  And then, Dorka left me a comment saying "... the book is in Russian ;) Nothing close to Greek, though ;) I am Bulgarian and we, together with Russians and a couple of other nations, use the Cyrillic alphabet, and I have also studied Russian, so I am sure (it even says so on the page you took a picture of ;) )."  Isn't it wonderful how the world is smaller and more connected just because we show each other our desks?

Well, here is my desk today...

 I did some cleaning and organizing (again?!, will it never end?) last weekend and since I did not finish, my desk is full (can you even see the desk itself?).  Actually, I even tried to take a picture of the better side!

On top of the pile of papers that need to get filed, is the giveaway fan tucked into a plastic folder, still unfinished, although Anne said, technically, it is a WIP (Work in Progress), and not a UFO (UnFinished Object) ;-).  I did some work on it, cutting out shapes of houses and trees to keep it from becoming a certified UFO. 

And then, since I noticed that I had gotten a few more followers, I started to make a giveaway to celebrate 200 followers (My, my, some people have such good taste!  Seriously, I am sooo delighted and excited when people other than my sisters want to follow my blog).  I wanted to have a giveaway that was bigger than my usual ATC size...

 

I decided on my favorite mother and child theme and started out using my favorite technique of  watercolor and colored pencil on a wall puttied background.  Then I decided to use some of the magazine cutouts and other paper scraps that I've been collecting (when else will I use them, right?).  The traditional Filipiniana dress has big sleeves with embroidery so I used a magazine cutout for the embroidery. The blue patterned paper I used for the baby's blanket is from the inside of envelopes. 

Something else I made this week was a paper rosette to decorate a gift for my sister Tina's birthday (it looks a little lost in the big gift but I was in a rush)...

 

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Watch out for my giveaway post.  I will be having it as soon as I reach 200 followers, but of course I have to finish it first.  Happy WOYWW, everyone!

WOYWW: Rosettes and UFOs

 

Here is my desk this Wednesday.   On the left you can see the giveaway fan I showed you in a previous post.  It is also called a UFO (according to this blog, UFO stands for Un-Finished Object).  Well, at least I have started painting the background for it .  I'm planning to give it a day and night theme.  The side you can see is the day side.

The other UFOs on my desk are the ATCs I haven't finished coloring in yet and that background over at the back (actually, there are a lot more UFOs all over my room!)

While blog hopping, I saw a Rosette swap over at Gypsy Brocante and I decided to try making some simple rosettes.  I had an old thrift shop linen skirt (cost me something like 10 cents) and I cut it up to make the rosettes.  I found tutorials here and here and made the one on the left from the linen cloth.  And the shiny one is made from the skirt lining...

   

Then I found another tutorial here and decided to try it out with a paper bead center...

 

or a button...

 

Here is one made out of magazine paper and book paper...

I can use the rosettes for decorative garlands or gift wrapping and the cloth ones can be pinned to bags or even used to decorate t-shirts.

Here is another rosette using a thin cotton cloth with more layers.  And here is the ATC I started when I was in the airport waiting for a plane and I have colored it with watercolor and colored pencils...

 

I have just read the message from (Bleubeard and) Elizabeth that she is picking my blog for her WOYWW blog post today.  I am so honored (and to tell you the truth, I was secretly hoping to get picked one of these days)!  Thanks so much, Elizabeth!

My internet connection hasn't been cooperating with my attempts to visit more WOYWW desks so hopefully this week will be better.   For a peek at what's happening in other desks, hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground and join in the fun!

Birthday Blessings

It was my hubby's birthday last Friday and look at the newspaper banner my son made for him...

As some of you who have been following my blog for some time know, for a year now, we regularly go the the local jail to visit the inmates and give them religious instruction.  These days, we go on Fridays and give a teaching on the gospel message for the following Sunday.

Last Friday, which was also a holiday, my hubby decided he would celebrate his birthday with the inmates of the jail so we ordered a hundred packs of "pancit palabok" (a local noodle dish - we have a tradition of serving long noodles symbolizing long life).  As we went on our way to the jail, I marveled at how God can work in our lives such that on a holiday, on his birthday, my dear hubby was so happy to go visit the jail.  When we were first given the opportunity to serve in the city jail and when I asked my hubby if we could do this, his first reaction was, "Are you crazy?"  He laughs at this now but at the time, he was appalled that I was actually seriously thinking about it.  It did sound like a crazy idea.  But, as I wrote before, it has been a joy to see God work and my hubby's change of heart is an example.  After his initial reaction, he said yes, and the rest is history.  My wonderful husband is now the leader of our prison ministry.

When we arrived and the inmates were told it was his birthday, we could feel their genuine joy and well wishes for him. And he, too, was beaming with joy as they sang Happy Birthday to him.

This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:23

If you are interested in to read more about our prison ministry, visit my sister's prison blog (she also posts pictures of oil paintings made by the inmates and being sold for the equivalent of $25!)

What's on my Messy Workdesk Wednesday

Every Wednesday there's a link party organized by Julia for those of us who like to take a peek at some desks and show the world our desks (whatever state it's in).  Here is my desk today (it is due for a clean up)...

It is just a whole pile of letters, cards, stuff to put away and artist trading cards.  There's the finished ATC of the Palace of Fine Arts (there's a close up in my previous post) that I made as a giveaway for Carola  and which I will send out to her as soon as I can.

And beside it is my Filipina "Tindera" series of ATCs (Tindera means "female seller").  This one is selling "Isda" (fish)...

This card is called "Gulay" (vegetables)...

And this next one is "Prutas" (fruits) with "saging" (banana) and "manga." Oops, it's supposed to be spelled "mangga"!  Have you ever tasted Philippine mangoes?  To me, they are the best!

And last, "Sari-sari store."  Sari-sari translates to "various".  In the Philippines, the sari-sari store is the little neighborhood store where they sell all sorts of things - canned goods, soft drinks, eggs, ballpens, - anything which you might want to buy right away, without having to go to the supermarket...

How about you?  What have you been up to?  Hopefully, I will be able to visit more desks this week if my internet connection cooperates with me.  Happy peeking, WOYWWers!

Snail Mail

I remember when all the mail we got was what we now call "snail mail."  If we wanted to keep in touch with friends and family from far away, we would send cards and letter through the post office.  Then came email, e-greeting cards and facebook and it was so much easier to send greetings through the internet.  So, few people sent real letters and cards anymore.

But, for me, it is exciting to look forward to receiving something by snail mail.

Isn't it delightful to see who the letter is from and  to wonder what's inside?  Sometimes there is the added bonus of a pretty envelope and a stamp to add to my long time collection of Christian/ Christmas or Architecture stamps.  Just like this pretty envelope from Susanna...

 

When I got into trading artist trading cards, the postman must have been surprised at why I was suddenly getting mail again!

How delightful it is to open an envelope with a new artist trading card for my collection, sometimes with the added surprise of a pretty card, a lovely message, some paper scraps or some other wonderful surprise. 
 
Then there are the blog giveaways.  Giving them or receiving them are delightful to me.  Look at this beautiful journal I received from Lani of Healing Expressions.

 

 Doesn't it look pretty on my shelf (together with some of Purplecat's art)?...

Here is what I chose after I won a Firefly Blankets gift certificate from Hope Studios' Tutorial Tuesday.  These wonderful flannel squares can be used as baby wipes, lunchbox napkins or a washcloths and they come in such pretty prints!

And here are some pretty pink hair ties I got from Birgit of the Swapping Howdies blog.  I will be giving them away to a little friend...

 

Just today, another surprise in the mail - free luggage tags from KLM!  I got them from their "Create your personalized luggage tags" website  and I used one of my artist trading cards for the design.  

(If you are from Australia, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Finland, Denmark, Sweden or Norway, you can get your own free tags, too.)

Thank you, all, for all these gifts.  After receiving all these goodies, is it any wonder that I delight in receiving snail mail? 

I have finished the ATC that I made for Carola.  I hope that she, too, will be delighted when she receives it!

WOYWW: Home Sweet Home

Can you believe it?  It is already September and in the Philippines, I would not be surprised to hear Christmas carols playing once the "ber" months arrive! 

I am back home after two weeks out of the country.  I am blessed to be able to travel, to enjoy the novelty of new places, and to visit family and friends who live far from us, but it is good to be home and I am blessed to have a lovely family to come home to.  The temperature is hotter here and the streets are not as clean and orderly but it is still home, sweet home and I delight in the ordinary schedule of waking up to the sound of singing birds, an early breakfast, work in the family business, dinner with the family and free time for art.

 

Coming home means putting away all the stuff that was left all over in the rush of packing, as well as finding space to keep whatever new things we have brought home.  And so goes the never ending battle of trying to make a creative space out of the chaotic state that I find my desk in when I arrive home.  I actually enjoy all these attempts at organizing!  I got myself some new boxes (covered in paper designed by yours truly) to hide my junk and arranged some of the wonderful giveaways I won on my shelf...

After my attempt at organizing, I started on some projects.  I covered a giveaway fan with wall putty (wall putty is a low cost gesso substitute which you can buy in the hardware/construction supply store).  I am planning to collage or paint it...

It used to look like this (taken last night)...

And I am making an ATC of the Palace of Fine Arts which I will send to Carola if she wants it (a prize for guessing right).  I have finished the inking (copying from the computer) and will color it in later...

And here are some one dollar rubber stamps that I bought (I know, I know, I like one dollar buys!)

Hope you enjoyed your peek into my desk today!  Head on over to Julia's blog to see what's on everyone else's desks today!