You Were Made For More Than This...

Maria loved to sculpt.
She had always relished the earthly coolness of the soft clay as she moulded it into something of beauty.
She came alive when she sculpted, and as she created would often think of the Almighty Creator, feeling honoured that He had blessed her with the ability to make something out of virtually nothing.

But her father didn't feel the same way.
He felt her sculptures were synonymous with making mud pies, despite the recognition she received from those around her. According to him, sculpting was a hobby - a pass-time, not something that was a suitable career choice.

So she became a doctor.
She liked helping people, but her heart wasn't in it. With every script she signed her passion faded, and with every immunisation administered her creativity wilted.
As she closed the door of the doctor's lounge she allowed herself to feel what had been lurking beneath for some time.
She knew she was dying inside.
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and she felt angry at herself for giving up...for choosing the easy way, the safe way, instead of standing up for what she wanted to do with her life.
The tears wouldn't stop as she thought about the years she'd lost...and she wondered if she would ever have the courage to pursue her dream.

The beep of her pager shocks her into real time, and as she reaches into her pocket she feels an ache deep in her heart.
Maria dares to whisper, "I was made for more than this."

You were made for more than this world has to offer you.
The longings you feel inside are there for a reason.
Our longings point us to the treasure we are seeking.

God is calling to our hearts, pulling us to Him.
Saying to us that nowhere will we find what we need apart from in Him.
He knows the answers, He has the resources, He has the power to fill you up.
He's available 24/7, and He never tires of hearing your voice.

I urge you to pay attention to the cries of your heart.
Let the hurt drive you to your knees - to the point where you finally open your heart and let the love of God flow through all the dry and empty places.

A bientot mes amis,
XRebecca

Simon Says Stamp Challenge

Hi there!
I've been REALLY busy this week, and I've created something for another blogosphere challenge!
Today's creation is an entry for the Simon Says Stamp blog, where their challenge this week is to use newspaper.

Here is my entry...

I've made a little box using Kaisercraft papers, which I embossed and attacked with my fave...Distress Inks!

The little flower is from the Tattered Florals die, when the flower was finished I dipped the tips in embossing ink then sprinkled on clear embossing powder.The leaves are a Cuttlebug die which I then dry embossed and inked with Peeled Paint DI.

The white embossed doily stamp is from My Mind's Eye "Gertie" set.

I love how it turned out.

What do you think?

Why not pop on over to the Simon Says Stamp blog and you too could be in the running for some fabbo prizes!

Thanks for stopping by,

XRebecca





Hero Arts July Challenge

The July Challenge for Hero Arts has helped me feel a little warmer this week - it is the middle of Winter here in Australia!
The thing I love most about Summer is the fruits we have available here, and because my birthday is in December (when we have Summer) my mum would always buy a big assortment of fruit to have at my party...peaches, mangoes, cherries, watermelon - yum!

It is fruit that has inspired me to create this card for the Hero Arts Challenge...


The "Life is Sweeter" stamp is from the Hero Arts "Friends" set and I used Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.

What says "Summer" to you?

Thanks for stopping by!

A bientot,

XRebecca

Tuesday Trigger Time!

Well, I have decided to spread my wings and venture out into the papercrafting world by participating in a few challenges! Eek!

Hop on over to http://www.moxiefabworld.com/ and you can join in the fun!
For their "Tuesday Trigger" challenge, all you need to do is create a papercraft project inspired by this gorgeous coat...

Isn't it cute?

Love the frills...I'm a frill kinda gal.

So...here is the project I created using this coat as inspiration:



I have created a "handbag" to go with the coat - what do you think?

Inspired by the colour of the coat and the black buttons, I thought this would make the perfect accessory!

It would be cute way to say thanks to a friend...maybe pop a chocolate in there as well?

Thanks for stopping by!

A bientot mes amis,

XRebecca

Hi there!

I recently made this cushion for a friend of mine and wanted to share it with you.

Well, when I say "friend" I mean "beautiful lovely christian psychologist".

Anyway, on one of my recent visits to her she told me of an analogy the Lord had given her explaining the value of the precious peace we've been given. We need to hold onto our peace, and not lose it when we face problems and frustrations.

I thought this cushion might be a nice visual aid for her consulting room. I chose green and aubergine (that's eggplant for you unsophisticates!) as they are the colours in the room.

It was soooo easy to put together, and the best part is it only cost me $10 to make!







I wanted to make a cushion, but didn't really have the time or patience to make it from scratch (it was the school holidays), so I decided to take a shortcut and use premade cushions.

 I toddled off to my local Kmart and found these PERFECT specimens for only $5 each. Don'tcha love Kmart?



         

First I unpicked the side seams of both cushions.

I did this for 2 reasons: I needed to access the wrong side of the green cushion in order to embellish the front; and I wanted to use the aubergine cushion's fabric to make the embellishments!

After I had unpicked the seams, I ironed the wrong side to get the creases out.

Voila!  

Using WordArt, I typed the word "peace", then flipped it horizontally.

I made that sound so simple, didn't I?

The truth is, I spent about an HOUR trying and trying and trying to do this on Word 2010...ironically I lost my peace in the process.

It did not want to work for me.

Then my incredibly intelligent 11 year old suggested I do it on our OLD computer using Word 2003 (2003!).

After the poor old thing managed to boot itself up, I produced a flipped word in 2 minutes flat.

Go figure.

The next thing I needed to do was scrounge up some "Vliesofix", which thankfully I found a piece big enough to do the trick.

What is Vliesofix?

It is a type of fusible webbing used for applique (attaching fabric to fabric). It comes in a roll, and you buy it by the metre. Quilt shops carry it, but I get mine from Spotlight.

You can see me tracing my word onto the paper backing of the Vliesofix.

After the words/pictures have been traced, cut around them roughly.

Next I placed the word and pictures onto the WRONG side of the fabric and ironed over the Vliesofix (paper backing and all) using a dry iron. I actually used a little steam because I didn't want to melt my fabric. Probably not the exact right way to do it...but it worked for me!

When you cut out the word/pictures the webbing is fused to the wrong side, which you then flip over and iron that onto the RIGHT side of the cushion front.

This is why the word/pictures need to be reversed.

(Does that make sense?)

I wanted a simple, peaceful design and when I was happy with the placement I placed a clean teatowel over the word/leaves and pressed it with a hot steam iron. I could use hot this time because there was a cloth between the iron and the applique piece.

Using backstitch I embroidered a circle and then around some of the leaves with matching green embroidery floss. (I had traced around a dinner plate to make the circle.)

Nearly finished!

With right sides together I pinned around the 4 sides of the cushion.

See how I've put my pins in vertically? That allows the sewing machine to run right over them without snapping a needle, and no pins strewn everywhere.

(I confess that I'm a bit of a shocker with pins. When I was 15 I slid my foot over the carpet in my bedroom and onto a pin lying in wait in the pile. It snapped off inside my foot, jamming itself between 2 toe bones. Youch!)

Starting about 3/4 of the way along one side, I sewed around the sides of the cushion using straight stitch and a seam allowance of 1.5cm.

When I got back around to the side that I started on, I finished off  about 1/4 of the way along. This provided an opening for the cushion insert to go back into.

I then turned the cushion cover right way out and inserted the cushion.

Because the cushion insert was smaller than the cover I had enough room to sew a flange. Simply put it's a seam sewn on the right side about 1.5cm in. This also allowed me to close the cushion opening off neatly. 

So there you go.

A simple, quick and easy way to brighten a room or someone's day.

I hope you have fun with it.

Please leave a comment, I'd love to know how you went!

A bientot,

XRebecca

 

PS - I need to add that the leaf design was reproduced with permission from Martha Stewart's "Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts" .