Amy's Creative Pursuits

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

August Bible Journaling Pages: Matthew 27 thru Mark 12

Once a month I like to share my Bible Journaling Pages and what God has been teaching me. In the month of August I finished the book of Matthew and started the book of Mark. Sometimes I just color in the preprinted images of the "Inspire Bible" (available on Amazon) and I also create my own pages.

Unless otherwise stated, all the images are colored in with either gel pens or colored pencils. I tend to color larger areas with pencils then get the more intricate spots with pens. I high light my Bible with gel highlighters, and I usually use gelatos or craft paint for my backgrounds.

It is so increasingly hard to study God's word every day in the summer and fall. There is just so much to be done in the garden and with the fall harvest of vegetables. Plus, I took two vacations: Our annual fall vacation and a visit to my daughter's to see our new grandson, and although I enjoyed the time off, I didn't help my "to do" list at all. Nevertheless, I'm still staying faithful as I can be to my daily Bible reading. We are living in very strange times and I do not want to be deceived so I need to stay close to the Lord. I have found "tricks" to stay in the word, and accomplish other tasks at the same time. For example, I read the Bible, then I listen to a sermon while I do the dishes, or I pray and worship. I don't think the Lord will mind, I think that's actually what He means when He says "Pray continuously". He knows we only have so many hours in the day, and unfortunately doing work is how most of us spend most of our days.

Well let's take a look at my Bible Journaling pages for the month of August and what God has been teaching me, shall we?

This is a page I did myself. I had some left over digital images from another project so I decided to make a page illustrating Jesus' betrayal. I used stamps and my own handwriting for the scripture. The background is craft paint. Matthew 27:9 says that thirty pieces of silver was "the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel". Isn't that so sad? Here was the son of God, who came down to earth to save his people, and all he was worth to them was thirty pieces of silver. Do you know what thirty pieces of silver was worth back in Jesus' time? About $200 dollars today.

I created this next page using more of those leftover digital images from last years project. The background was once again created with craft paint, and all the words are stickers. The hearts are a stamp.

This is a pre-printed image in the Inspire Bible that I simply colored in with pencils. The yellow background was done with gelatos.

I created this page by googling a coloring book image off the Internet. I simply printed it onto sticker paper, colored it in, and cut it out. Then I used stamps for "Be Still" and "know that I am with you". I then hand wrote the Great Commission out and drew rectangles around the key words. This page is a good example of Bible Journaling to me. The illustration shows the story, and the words capture the key points.

The pre-printed title page of the book of Mark.

Like everyone else in the world right now, I have fears, and God has been helping me work through these fears. I can't believe how many times God tells us not to be afraid in the Bible. He says it 365 times! That is a daily reminder from God to live everyday FEARLESS!

Here we go again! 😂. Maybe God has to remind us of this so much because we can't help but not to fear!

I really like Mark 6:50 because it's the story of Jesus Walking on Water. The disciples were terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost, and Jesus says "Don't be afraid, Take courage, I AM HERE!". Every day as I navigate these very uncertain, strange global times we are living in, I must remind myself not to fear, because HE IS HERE with me!

This page I created myself. I know it seems kinda dark, but it is definitely what I've been feeling for a long time. In this story, Jesus is scolding the religious leaders for ignoring God's laws and substituting their own traditions. I see that so often today, which is also a sign of the times. Christians who accept sin that is clearly condemned in the Bible, or believers who try to fit God into modern culture. They create their own God by keeping the attributes of God they approve of, and ignoring the ones that make them uncomfortable.

I love this verse so created my own fun, whimsical page with it. I did the background with gelatos, then I used a mix of stickers and my own handwriting for the words. The coffee cups is a piece of vellum that I just cut out, colored in, and glued on the page. The design above and below the verse is Washi Tape. I hand drew a few flowers in to match the flowers on the coffee cups.

These whimsical pre-printed images in the Inspire Bible are always my favorite. I love the style, and I love to color them. I've always loved this verse too!

I love the song "Do It Again" by Elevation Worship. This page reminds me of that song, and I couldn't help sing it to myself as I colored. The verse in the song goes

"I've seen You move, You move the mountains

And I believe I'll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way

And I believe I'll see You do it again"

When I worship God at home, I quite often sing this song. When things look so hopeless, so impossible, it restores my faith.

And finally, a pre-printed image of the word "Love" which highlights the most important commandment: to love God and your neighbor.

Thank you for spending time in God's Word with me today.

Have A Great Day! Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Thursday, September 23, 2021

A New Little One To Love

Well if you've been wondering where I've been or what's up with the spotty blog posts here and there, this is one reason why. This adorable, little, snuggle muffin was born! Can you tell I'm just smitten? I'm one of those people that just loves newborn babies! I could hold them for hours. I love their smell, their soft skin, and all the funny little facial expressions and noises they make. I can't stop kissing those chubby cheeks! Oh, my goodness! Newborns are a gift from heaven!

Elisha John was born while my husband and I were vacationing in North Dakota. That explains week one of my absence from the blog. We were at the end of our vacation, so we finished it and came home for a few days to unpack and get some things done. It's harvest season, so you can just imagine all the vegetables I had ready for me to be canned and processed. Hubby of course had to go to work and take care of a few things since he was gone the week before. Then we left on Saturday to see our newest grandson! My husband had three days of vacation left that we were saving for Thanksgiving, but we decided to use them up now to see the baby. Alethea, our granddaughter, was so overjoyed that we were coming to visit that she cried. Oh, it melts my heart to be loved so much by my grandchildren.

I took these newborn pictures just using my iPhone in Elisha's nursery.

Elisha John arrived right on his due date at 40 weeks. He was 9lbs 12 oz and 21 and 3/4 inches long. My daughter has big babies!

The names Elisha John are from the Bible. In my daughter's words: "Elisha means "my God is salvation." We chose the middle name John out of admiration for the humility and faithfulness of John the baptist.

Our hope and prayer is that Elisha would lead a life in humility and zeal, declaring the saving power of our God!"

And here is the happy new family of five. The other children, Atticus and Alethea are just loving their new baby brother. And we are all very grateful Elisha is such a "good" baby (I hate using that term, because all babies are "good" but everyone knows what I mean by it) because he can sleep through all the noise and racket the other two children make. He rarely fusses, and he sleeps pretty good at night already.

Ashley is feeling very well already, so we were able to get out and do a little something every day we were visiting. One of the things we did was go to downtown Zionsville to take some fall pictures. It is such a cute little town, and there were plenty of fall displays to choose from.

Isn't this little guy just the cutest?

Alethea and I both wore purple so I was so excited to find this unique purple house to use as a photo backdrop. And oh my goodness, you should have seen the garden of this home! An artist must live here, because they had so many quirky, fun art in their garden and the cutest potting shed I ever did see...also the color purple.

I couldn't help but use this pretty store display for a photo shoot. Here I am, my arms completely filled with love! I couldn't be happier!

We still haven't figured out who he looks like, we all have different opinions and of course everyone on-line who sees the pictures has their opinion. But as he grows, we will soon see!

Now I am the grandmother of two grandsons! Such handsome, sweet boys they are. My prayer is that they will grow up to love and serve God all the days of their lives.

Have A Great Day! Amy

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Ageless Style - Gem Colors

Ageless Style is a monthly style challenge and link up for women "over a certain age". Each month we pick a different theme and style an outfit based on that theme.

This month's Ageless Style theme was picked by Mireille and she chose "Gem Colors". Gem colors are any color that you would find in a gemstone like "amethyst", "emerald", or "garnet". There are so many beautiful gem colors to choose from. I chose to represent "garnet" which is an orangey red color.

Red is always the most difficult color to photograph. In real life, this dress looks a lot more like rust, but in the photographs it looks more burgundy.

I picked a very old rusty red dress from my closet to style. You have seen me wear this dress so many times before on this blog (check out these posts Here and Here to see other ways I styled this same dress). That is one of the plus's of a solid color dress; you can style it so many different ways!

For today's challenge, this time I styled my dress with a kimono, gold jewelry, and flats.

My kimono is super old, but the color of red in the kimono perfectly matched the red color of the dress.

My shoes are new this year. I got them on clearance for $14.99 from DSW! Can someone say "Score!". As I'm getting older and older, I've been switching out my heels for more comfortable footwear, so when I saw these while browsing one day I scooped them up!

I couldn't decide what color bag to go with. Originally I was going to match my bag to my shoes and go with a taupe color, but they say not to do that because it "ages you". I'm not so sure about that. I finally settled on black because there is a bit of black in the kimono, but after I saw these photos, I wish I would have went with the taupe bag. The black seems to stand out too much.

Since the dress is so plain, I could really go with statement jewelry. I chose a long knotted rose gold necklace, a large sparkly gold bangle, and rose gold earrings.

This dress is a perfect example of something I have owned for years and get so much wear out of because there are so many different ways to style it. It was a great investment piece!