One World One Heart 2011

 

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

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog,
where I like to think I am sowing seeds around the world -
seeds of faith, or hope or maybe, creativity!

It's finally time for the much awaited
international bloggers' event organized by Lisa Swifka,
One World One Heart,
where bloggers get to meet one another
by visiting one another's blogs. 

I hope you will enjoy your visit to mine.  

I wish you...

and all the other

in life.

As a mother,

 I remember well,
hoping for all of these for my baby.

As an artist,
one of my favorite themes is
the Mother and Child.

I make mother and child artist trading cards

as well as bigger works.

I also like painting and collaging bookpaper trees
(more trees in this post.)

To make my One World One Heart giveaway,
I used the technique I described in this post
and I also added a bit of lace and paper collage.

I am giving away an original 9" x 12" mixed media piece
of a mother and child and her tree of hopes and dreams. 

May this painting remind us to plant seeds, of faith maybe, or generosity, or wisdom, or goodness, with hopes that, like the leaves in this tree, these seeds will sprout and flourish in abundance, and bear fruit.

If you are a blogger and would like a chance to win my giveaway, please leave me a comment on this post and a way to get in touch with you if you win.  I will announce the winner on February 17th.  Since Lisa, the organizer of OWOH encourages us to have the giveaway open to bloggers only, I am following her recommendation (she is organizing it, after all). Even if you are not a blogger, I hope you will drop by and visit again, since my other giveaways are open to everyone.

Thank you so much for dropping by!  Now that you have visited me here in the Philippines, why not drop by the other blogs on the OWOH list!

 

from peggy aplSEEDS

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: The Remains of Valentine's Day

 Some red colored material that was used to wrap a rose for Valentine's Day
(of course I must keep it for recycling into a project of some sort),

some fiber material that also came with the rose

(of course it also goes into the materials drawer),

a gift bow from a present from my hubby

(of course I must reuse on a gift for someone later),

extra heart stickers after I put one on a card I sent,

 "Belle", my childhood doll that my mom sent from her house

(oh look, she's dressed up in red for Valentine's Day as well!),

and extra red paper with punched out heart shapes

(I scattered little hearts around for my hubby to find)...

these are what's on my workdesk today.

Sorry, folks, no creativity going on here, I've been traveling around the

One World One Heart blogs (see the list on my computer screen?),

finding new blogs friends and hoping to win some giveaways.
Have you joined my OWOH giveaway?

Look into the other desks joining our  

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday link party.
I'm sure you'll find more creative desks than mine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sending love your way today!  

I thought I would repost one of my earliest posts (written in 2009) since I don't think I had any readers yet when I posted it!...

I have been thinking about generosity since I visited the One World- One Heart (edit: this is the link to the 2009 OWOH.  Here is this year's OWOH ) blogs of so many generous people these past few days. Some of them gave away things that had obviously taken them so long to make, that I wondered how they could part with those beautiful handmade things. And visiting those sites made me feel like giving something away as well. Generosity is contagious, I thought. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. I decided I wanted to give something away in next year's event. But also, I decided I wanted to share a part of myself throughout the year - my thoughts, my art, my stories, my faith.

And the best example of generosity is God himself, who, as the often quoted verse in John 3:16 says, "gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." And why? Because He "so loved the world." It is not easy to give away something so precious, and as a parent, I know how precious my children are to me. How awesome to think about how much God loves us to have given us His Son. And God's love is far different from what many think love is when they say "I love you" to someone, especially on days like Valentine's day. And I wish that you will experience God's generous love in your life, and that you will strive to give this kind of love.

It is not always easy to love this way, generously, unconditionally. But I believe that we should strive to love this way. Generosity is contagious. Let the words in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 be our guide: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Thailand & Happy Chinese New Year!

 

Every Wednesday, I join the "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday" link party and show everyone what project I've been doing for the week. There's no crafting going on this week because I've just gotten back from a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, and the rest of the time, I've been visiting blogs in the One World One Heart event, where everyone offers a giveaway to bloggers who visit and leave a comment.  Have you joined my OWOH giveaway?  Or would you like to join in the fun of offering a giveaway?  It's not too late!  Just follow the instructions in this post.

On my desk today are some of my finds from Bangkok.  

A little zippered bag with a cute flower...

some handpainted wooden critters...

and a crocheted ring.

While in Bangkok, it was the Chinese New Year...

Happy Chinese New Year!  

If you would like to join in the fun of WOYWW or take a peek at other desks, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: One World One Heart

I finally have a tidy desk to show you!  Julia, queen of  What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, and a host of others, showed off such clean desks last Wednesday for the WOYWW link party (come join us!) so I just had to clean my desk up.  And since I am busy blog hopping for the One World One Heart blogger's event (I am #544), I didn't have time to mess up my desk again.  On my desk you can see my newly washed plastic kitchen mat, a bargain book I found for less than £3...

the background I was working on (I used the clear stamps "Crillon Adornments" and "Crillon Filigree" that my sister gave me for my birthday)...

and an old shoe last that I've had for ages (I love to use it as a paperweight).

And now, I'm off to more blog hopping and I hope to find some of you also joining One World One Heart.  If you would like a chance to win my giveaway, please leave a comment on this post.

Oh Wow, OWOH, Ooops!

Ooops, I already posted my One World One Heart giveaway but Lisa Swifka, the organizer of this international bloggers' event told me that the event "does not begin until the end of the night of January 30th after midnight" and so I had to remove my post and will repost it at that time.  I just have to email my lovely visitors who left comments in my first post.  Sorry about that!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday: Too Much!

Happy WOYWW, blog friends!  Yes, there is just too much on my workdesk this Wednesday.  After last Wednesday, I had a tidy up but right after, it started to fill up again and so, today is no different! The drawer is open again to make more workspace.

Among the hodgepodge of things, aside from the art materials, I dumped my mail on my desk and you can see copies of The Word Among Us, a daily devotional my whole family reads (or at least I hope my kids read their copies), an ATC that I got from a trade I made over at ATCs for ALL, and...

a lovely surprise from fellow WOYWWer, carola bARTz. Carola takes amazing pictures so I assume the awesome picture on the card she sent is one of hers.  She also sent me a really cute glitter snowman ATC for my collection and...


a lovely bird tag.  Thank you so much, Carola!  It is so wonderful to get surprises in the mail, isn't it?





 
On the shelf is a portrait that my daughter drew when she was young.  I found it in the attic and decided to enjoy it for a while.  One of these days, I will write a post about her entitled "So you think you can't draw?" and tell you how, when she went to college, she found out she could draw after all.  Perhaps those of you who think they can't draw will learn something from her!

Laying on the open drawer is a background I started, using paper scraps and gesso.  Some of the papers were extras from the ones I used for my latest painting...

the giveaway for One World, One Heart.  I will tell you more about it when I make my OWOH post on January 30.  On the shelf above my painting you can see the ATC I'm giving away in my previous post.

I got so engrossed in making this painting (and our internet connection was so slow over the weekend) and so I didn't get to visit many of your desks for our WOYWW link party.  Now that it's finished, I hope to visit more of you.

Father Make Us One and an ATC Giveaway

This week, from January 18 to 25, we are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This is especially meaningful for me because I belong to a community that is a member of the Sword of the Spirit, an ecumenical association made up of more than 65 communities in 24 countries, with members belonging to Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions.  Besides, my Dad is a Methodist and my Mom is a Roman Catholic!

This year, the prayers and commentary for the observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were prepared by a group of Christian leaders from Jerusalem. They chose as the key verse Acts 2:42, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

Jesus prayed, "that they may all be one", John 17:21.  Together with all the Christians observing this week of prayer, let us focus on what we have in common and not on our differences. And as the prayer guide says,
"God, from whom all life flows in its rich diversity, you call your Church as the Body of Christ to be united in love. May we learn more deeply our unity in diversity, and strive to work together to preach, and build up the Kingdom of your abundant love to all, while accompanying each other in each place, and in all places. May we always be mindful of Christ as the source of our life
together. We pray in the unity of the Spirit. Amen."

And to celebrate, I'm giving away the ATC above.  Just as a garden of various flowers is beautiful, let us appreciate our diversity and strive to be united in love.  If you would like a chance to win my simple giveaway, please just leave me a comment in this post and I will draw a winner next week!

The Giveaway is closed and the winner is Saskia!

Thank you for joining!

WOYWW: OWOH WIP

Do you ever have to google the abbreviations you come across in the internet?  I do!  JICYDK ("Just In Case You Didn't Know" according to this Internet Slang website) my post title means "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: "One World One Heart" Work in Progress."

Hmm, seems my desk is in need of a tidy up since there wasn't even enough space on it for my project.  I had to pull open a drawer to find somewhere to work on!  And no, I do not read Chinese, if you are wondering about the Chinese pages.  I just use them for collages.

Not that much progress in my project.  So far, I have transferred the sketch to a final sheet coated with gesso, and I have started to color it with watercolor and colored pencils.  I am deciding whether I will go for light, monochromatic shades this time. I am also planning to add some lace and paper, and as usual, who knows how it will turn out.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said " "Life is a journey, not a destination."  And I think, so is art!

Today I will keep my WOYWW post short and try to post some other stuff on other days.  After all, there are over a hundred desks to visit.  Come join in the fun of WOYWW!

ATC Trees

Here is a set of mixed media ATCs that I made last year.  I started out by coating the cards with some gesso (or maybe it was wall putty), painting it on randomly.  

 

Then I used watercolor to paint each of the cards in different colors.  I also painted book pages in a darker shade of the same colors as the cards.

 

I used watercolor and colored pencils to draw the tree trunk and the ground. 

I used colored pencils to shade the background and bring out the texture...

adding darker shades at the edges and swirls in the parts that wouldn't have leaves.

Then I cut out leaf shapes from the book pages and pasted them unto the tree trunks.

After pasting the book paper leaves, I painted more leaves on in the same color.

I added "fruits" using dimensional paints and this last one even got a bird...

 

Hope you like them!