"Believe and you may see miracles all about you"
Read on to learn of a fantastic 29 days of giving that a friend of mine is doing. If you've already heard - read on anyway.
"Believe and you may see miracles all about you"
I wrote these words a number of years ago after realizing that the huge challenges our daughter and we, were facing could be turned into something totally different.
I have shared the words with the people that helped me get to the realization. Now I am sharing them with you.
Besides believing in miracles and angels and faeries and Santa Claus, I also believe in magic. And that is mainly what this post is about.
To me "Santa" encompasses the entire aspect of giving - to others as well as to yourself. I think the giving to self is about love and respect for self - body, mind and spirit. If we can do that, we can be a more grateful giver, of body, mind and spirit, to others.

In the July, August 2007 issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine

I found an article by Chrysti Hydeck. It was called "Get the skinny on mixed-media books". I was intrigued by the methods for doing backgrounds. Chrysti had commented in the article "I am madly, deeply, head-over-five-inch-stiletto-heels in love with creating backgrounds." I wanted to learn, had been trying. I kept going back to the instructions that Chrysti presented. I'm surprise I do not have paint all over the magazine pages. I particularly fell in love with tsukineko walnut ink spray. Living in rural Saskatchewan I had a bit of a challenge finding the supplies required. I was not into on-line shopping.
It took me a while to figure out that I could do things my own way and did not have to follow EXACTLY step by step what Chrysti was suggesting.
The following pictures are some of my results from Chrysti's article.






I had also encountered Chrysti along the way at flickr and found her collage images group there. I began to learn what a wonderful spirit is this Chrysti person.

I was later invited by another friend to participate in a swap at Chrysti's blog for doodle ATC's. I was fortunate to receive a creation of Chrysti's.


So what's all the excitement about, you may ask. The wonderfully gifted Chrysti is doing a fabulous "29 days of giving" give-away. She wants as many people as possible to be recipients. She is giving away fabulous creations of her own, as well as gifts of others - gifts of art lessons, gifts of books, gifts of prints, and the list goes on and on. I have been unable to post about this sooner and so you may have missed some wonderful opportunities for winning already. There are still more gifts to be received however. Chrysti also says she will be continuing the sharing after the initial 29 days have passed.
I said initially that this post is about magic. Chrysti talks of magic. She wants everyone to be recipients. She wants to allow others the opportunitiy to give also.

So as this Christmas day approaches I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and ask that you watch for the miracles and angels all about you.
Wendy

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not on this earth for eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake."
Marie Beynon Ray (Adapted)
American Author
Inspiration Peak

"Where is it written that we should be so serious all the time? The God who made giraffes, a baby's fingernails, a puppy's tail, a crooknecked squash, the bobwhite's call, and a young girl's giggle, has a sense of humor. Make no mistake about that."


Catherine Marshall (Adapted)
American Author
More Quotes About 'God' Today's Story: 'The Pretty One'


from "Inspiration Peak"

"Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down
in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language
- even the phrase “each other” -
do not make any sense."
Rumi

These glorious words by Rumi were the prompt for this past week at Inspire Me Thursday. While I am very late with my entry I could not resist this idea of looking to the sky. I love clouds, and angels.

To me, if one is
"looking up
to the ancestors

finding with awe
angels
and spirits"
- nothing else would really matter

You have a solemn obligation to take care of yourself,
because you never know when the World will need you.


Rabbi Hillel, 30 B.C. - 9 A.D.
Inspiration Peak

biding time:
I'm working on a new video but until that is done I'll share this celebration of a wonderful young lady who directs our St. Peter's Chorus. She celebrated a special birthday a couple of weeks ago. We surprised her with a song for her birthday at our spring concert. Greg was able to videotape it and one of our members put together this video for youtube. Please watch to the very end to see the photo of Max taken at her actual party



I feel especially proud to know Maxine as she too has faced many challenges in her life.
Happy Birthday Maxine.

The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials, but the ones with the concern.

Max Lucado
Inspiration Peak

Angels be with you dear friends,
Wendy

Wishes for today:

1. that I could dance - more like this:



2. that I could speak my comments to people's blogs and videos and etsy and pictures, and have them automatically typed. Even better would be if I could think them. Ummm - it would automatically be able to pick and choose the appropriate thoughts to type :D - typing with just 2 fingers sucks (and takes a lot of precious time) : (

3. that the sun would shine a bit more these days.

Thought for today from inspiration peak:
There are no accidents... there is only some purpose that we haven't yet understood.
Deepak Chopra
Indian Author and Medical Doctor

another busy day:







These are not new. I can't remember exactly when I did them. I just thought they were something different to show that I've worked on in the past couple of weeks. They are backgrounds for journal pages in case you didn't realize. The two with blue I actually used watered down ink. I had tried with undiluted blue and they got way too dark. I love playing. Unfortunately I often don't know how to repeat the steps to get EXACTLY same effect. LOL

I did some rearranging in my studio today again. I love to do still life photos. I'll share them in a couple of days. I've also done more experimenting with transfers. One of these years I might get lucky and actually get some kind of results. I was going to check at "The Good Neighbour Store" for a little crock pot for wax BUT the thrift type store wasn't open WAAAHHH :( tomorrow :D

Sometimes we stare so long at our balloon in the sky we forget that our ice cream is melting on our plate.
Author Unknown
But Greatly Appreciated!

From Inspiration Peak

Angels be with you.

Identify God's emissaries
By the light in their eyes,
By the lilt in their song,
By the glow of their skin
And the joy within;
Not with the face of a dried-up peach,
And a voice that would teach
Of doom and sin.

Elias Penn-Smith

Inspiration Peak

Swaps and right brains: Yipes. They don't fit together. I had signed up for the vintage Christmas stocking swap hosted by the wonderful MaryAnn. I'm two weeks past the date for sending and I'mstill not quite ready. Hopefully everything will be ready tomorrow. My very right brained self is having an extremely difficult time completing anything for the swap.

Until I've any pictures to show I'll share this quotation from Inspiration Peak which I love:

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at a college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, 'You mean they forget?'

Howard Ikemoto

When you think a new thought, entertain a new dream, or mentally choose a new goal, your thoughts "leave" you and go out, in every direction, to the farthest corners of the planet - on a mission.

They carry a life force all their own, like ripples created when a pebble is tossed into a pond, and their sole object is to reappear back into your life as things and experiences.

You can't change this... but, YOU CAN use it. VISUALIZE.



Mike Dooley

Something to think about:
Your ship was spotted off the coast this morning, slipping silently through the fog... coming around the cape she appeared in a shaft of sunlight... and what a sight to see! Glimmering as much as the ocean herself. Massive and beautiful beyond belief! Laden with treasures, happy times, friends, love, and laughter. Quick, you must PREPARE for her docking... you MUST make space in your life for her gifts... otherwise, just as quickly, she'll quietly slip back out to sea.

Mike Dooley

"There will always be dreams grander or humbler than your own, but there will never be a dream exactly like your own... for you are unique and more wondrous than you know!"

Linda Staten

"All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life."
M.C. Richards

As found in 'the Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron

"How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?''
Dr. Seuss

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude
on life.

Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more
important than the past, than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what
other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It
will make or break a company ...a church ...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday
regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We
cannot change our past ...we cannot change the fact that
people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ...I
am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me
and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we
are in charge of our attitudes."

Charles Swindoll