Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Creative Bible Journaling - June Pages Part One

Come along with me each month as I journal my way through the Bible.  I'm not artistic at all, so you won't see beautiful illustrations and calligraphy, but what you will see is what I gleaned from the scriptures every day and how I creatively journaled what I have learned in the margins of my Inspire Bible.

It feels like it's about 100 degrees outside (in reality it's only 91 but us northerners aren't use to heat) so I'm taking a garden break and I am inside enjoying the air conditioning.  Normally I'd have garden veggies to process, but I couldn't even get out to my garden today to pick vegetables as I had an early morning appointment.  I say all this as an explanation of why I actually have a new blog post!  I had a few hours of extra time so I decided to sit down and write my monthly Bible Journaling post, even if it is few hours late.

I did a lot of Bible Journaling in the month of June and hardly any during the month of July since it was such a busy month;  so I decided rather than post twenty some photos this month, and only four photos next month, I'd just divide them up equally:  Hence the title "June Pages Part One".

I'm still working with all my ephemera from my new Illustrated Faith kit "Worthy of Worship" which I introduced last month in THIS POST.

This first page needs no explanation.  God is Great and He is worthy of Praise!

To make this page I adhered a piece of designer paper in the margin then stamped some images from the "Worthy of Worship" stamp kit in red onto the paper.  Everything else is ephemera from the same kit.  I hand wrote the Bible verse in.


David loved to sing and praise the Lord.  So many of our worship choruses today are excerpts from David's psalms.  

To make this page, I painted the background using craft paint, then I stamped some musical notes.  Using a combination of my own handwriting and stamps, I put the Bible verse in the margin.  I added the guitar ephemera from the kit for illustration.


In the book of Revelation we see an illustration of angels, peoples, and "every creature" praising God.  What a beautiful scene! I can hardly wait!

To make this page I adhered designer paper in the margin then I attached ephemera from the kit and wrote the Bible verse in the frame.  I added a little "reminder note" about the purposes of the tribulation.


This is a Bible verse I think either a lot of Christians don't know about, or forgot about.  Jesus said we just can't believe in Him to be His disciple, we must remain faithful to what He taught us.

To make this page I adhered designer paper in the margin and hand wrote the verse.  Then I adhered ephemera for decoration and emphasis of key point.


Sometimes churches can get so busy with activities they lose the main reason of their purpose:  the edifying and building up of other believers.  I think we need to step away from constantly trying to entertain because that always requires more volunteers who are already overwhelmed with full time jobs and families.  1 Timothy 4:13 is a good reminder of what churches should focus on.

To make this page I adhered designer paper in the margin, added ephemera for decoration, and hand wrote the scripture.


This next verse is part of a prayer of Jesus' for His disciples.  My Bible version (NLT) uses the word "Holy" for this verse, but other versions use the word "Sanctify" which means "set apart".    Jesus wanted us to be set apart from the corruption of this world and for God's special pleasure and use.  We become sanctified when we hear the Word of God and apply it to our lives.

To make this page I painted the margin with craft paint and added a few white dots for embellishment.  I used a combination of stamps and my own hand writing for the Bible verse.  I used die cuts and ephemera for decorations.

"Every word of God proves true":  ABSOLUTELY and Amen!  I find this so statement so true as I walk through life and examine world events and look at people's actions.  I think "Yep, the Bible has a lot to say about that" or "Yep, that's in the Bible!"  It's amazing to me that an ancient book is still so relevant in today's world...but it is!

To make this page I colored in the margin with craft paint, added ephemera for embellishment and used a combination of stamps for the Bible verse.



What a beautiful verse this next one is.  Did you know you can be confident in your prayers that God is listening to you?  He is, because it says in His word "HE HEARS" you!  

To make this page I painted the background and colored in the pre-printed page.  I hand wrote the Bible verse and added ephemera for embellishment.


Here is another awesome and comforting Bible verse about prayer.  God will answer us "Before they even call to me", while "still talking about their (our) needs", He will "go ahead and answer their (our) prayers".  Isn't that awesome?  I inserted the "our" in parenthesis so you know this means you too if you're a believer in Christ!

To make this page I colored in the background with craft paint added a little design of hearts and dots.  I hand wrote the Bible verse and added ephemera too.



So many great Bible verses about how God is listening to us!  Are you discouraged because you're feeling God isn't hearing your prayers?  Read these verses.  He hears you!  
The answer is on the way.

To make this page, I painted the background with craft paint and added a few white dots.  I used a combination of my own handwriting and stamps for the Bible verse and added ephemera for decoration.


And for my last page, a verse about gratitude.  Never forget to thank the Lord, for He is good!

To make this page I painted the background with craft paint then hand wrote the Bible verse using a few stamps to emphasis certain words.  I then added ephemera for decoration and emphasis of key points. 


 I hope my Bible Journaling pages encouraged you today!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Thursday, July 20, 2023

"One and Done" Fashion with Ageless Style

Ageless Style is a monthly style challenge and link up for women of all ages.   Each month we pick a different theme and style an outfit based on that theme.  This month's theme is "One and Done" and was picked by JoAnne.

Before I begin this post I want to apologize for my inactivity on this blog.  I can tell by the large number of hits on my last post, but no new comments, that people are coming to my blog and looking for a new post.  I am still blogging,  I'm just SO BUSY I can't seem to find the time.  My garden and harvesting/processing food is just my top priority at the moment.  When things slow down, hopefully I will be able to post more regularly again.  Anyway, onto this month's Ageless Style,  "One and Done Fashion".

If you've never heard of "One and Done Fashion" before it's when you keep styling simple by just putting on a one piece garment and wa-la,   you're done!  One piece fashion could be a dress, a jumpsuit, a romper, etc.

I decided this challenge was a great opportunity for me to show a new trend that I couldn't be more excited about:  an activewear/fitness dress.


An activewear or fitness dress is the latest atheleisure wear trend.  These dresses are fabulous!  They are made with the same comfortable moisture-wicking material that most athletic wear is made out of.  The breathable fabric has four way stretch so it's easy and comfortable to move around in.  


You can wear fitness dresses to play tennis, exercise, hike, bike, or just on a hot day when you're doing something active, like BLUEBERRY PICKING!


I wore my activewear dress on a date with the hubby.  We started our day blueberry picking then we headed over to a cute town to explore...there will be a full blog post on this fun day coming up eventually.  😀



I purchased my dress at TJMaxx.  I absolutely love the color and the zippered neckline.  The only thing I don't like about it is it doesn't come with built-in shorts.  If I wanted to wear this dress hiking, I would have to wear tight fitting exercise shorts underneath.


I found the dress super easy and comfortable to wear.  I loved it so much, I hope to buy more!  They are perfect to wear running around with the grandchildren, or when we have a day that involves both physical activity combined with a more civilized activity (like hiking in the morning then going out for lunch).


 So what about you?  Would you wear an exercise dress?  Do you already own one?  I'd love to hear from you.

And now be sure and check out what the rest of the ladies in the group are wearing and be sure to link up with us too!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!



Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits

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Bo ~ Bo's Bodacious Blog

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Joanna ~ My Slice of Life

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Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

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Leslie ~ Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

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Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle

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Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

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Rosemary ~ Distinctly Southern Style

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Sunday, July 2, 2023

A Spring and Early Summer Vegetable Garden Tour

As promised, I am back with a tour of my vegetable garden.  This post will feature what the garden looked like when just planted, and what it looks like right now, at the beginning of summer.  I included two videos at the end of this post where you will really see the difference:  Wow! what a difference a month makes!  It amazes me how fast a little seed can grow into a huge plant.

This raised bed contains mostly broccoli, cauliflower, beans, radishes, spinach, and Swiss Chard.  I harvested my first head of cauliflower yesterday.


This is the lower vegetable bed in lat may.  Jackson is sitting right on top of the onions. 😒 He's never met a fence he'd rather be on the other side of. 😀 A cucumber plant just sprouted under the black wire teepee and those are potato plants sprouting out of the ground on the left.  Right by Jackson's paws are little carrot sprouting.


I tried a new kale this year that I'm loving.  The name of it is in the first video at the end of the post.  It's not only very tasty but it is so pretty and grows very well too!


The potato beds in late May...wait to you see what they look like now!


Jackson's favorite napping place is in the shade right under the huge broccoli leaves. 


One month later, Jackson is still sitting in the onion bed, but as you can tell, they still grew even after he sat on top of them.😁


Here is a far away shot of the broccoli bed.  The broccoli is at one end with the beans on the edge and the spinach, Swiss Chard and radishes in the forefront.  I already harvested a row of radishes and reseeded a second time.



I've never had Swiss Chard before.  I planted it on recommendation of my daughter.  It looks ready to start harvesting so I'm waiting for her to arrive to show me how to prepare it.  I hope I like it.  She says it's really good for you.   It sure looks pretty in the garden though.


I found the best way to grow beans.  I plant them right in front of the top retaining wall and let them cascade over the edge.  Harvesting will be a breeze, because I can just walk along the wall and hand pick them.


The broccoli is just starting to form heads.


Here's my one cucumber plant now.  Much larger than the little sprout I showed you earlier in the post.  I only plant one cucumber plant and I have found that it supplies more cucumbers than I can even consume and can.


My peas didn't do that great this year.  They are only about a foot high and a lot didn't even germinate.  I was told it's because we were way too hot too soon and they didn't get the cooler weather they like.


The zucchini and summer squash are looking great.  


In my large vegetable garden I grow more potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, peppers, more peas, more radishes, more carrots, and dill.


I "trellis" my tomato plants to the fence.  I find this is the best way to grow tomatoes.  They stay nice and tidy, flat on the fence and are healthier this way because they get lots of air circulation.


I plan to can cucumbers this year so I grew some dill.  What a pretty plant this is.  I think I will forever have this in my garden just because I like the way it looks so much!   To the left of the dill are pepper plants and to the right are more radish seedlings.


Another new plant I tried this year was beets.  I couldn't believe how fast they grew;  I ate my first beet the other day.  I roasted it first, then put in the fridge to get cold and then sliced it and ate it on a salad.  I couldn't believe how incredible it was eating it that way!


This year I am training my winter squash to grow up the trellis as if I let it grow on the ground, it smothers all the other plants.  So far it's working quite well.


For whatever reason, the peas in this garden grew better than the peas in the other garden.


I have two beds of potatoes on the other side of my fence since animals don't bother potatoe plants.  They are growing amazingly well!



My first squash blossom.  So pretty!


And now here are two walk through videos of my garden.  The first one shows the garden in late May, when I just planted seeds and small plants and mulched with shredded leaves.



This second video shows the garden exactly one month later...again...what a difference a month makes!


I hope you enjoyed my vegetable garden tour!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!