Crafters of Faith ... new beginnings! :)

Hi there!  This is such a special post today for many reasons and I'm so glad to be here, right now, in this moment :)  I often reflect in moments of quietness - rare in my house, I can assure you! - how much I strive to turn every day, every hour, and every moment into something that I'm grateful for.  I had such a tumultuous end of the year last year - I kept most of it quiet and even those closest to me had/still have no idea how painful and heart wrenching so many things were to me.  Much of November went by in a blur and by December I was ready to head for the hills.  Literally.  I simply couldn't take one more thing, one more bad moment, one more mean person, any more bad news.  And I soon realized when I was literally, in the hills, surrounded by such breathtaking beauty that God has gifted to us - breathing in the cool mountain air, that I had stopped finding moments of gratitude.  How sad that made my heart! :(

As soon as we got home, I knew with such clarity that this year would be one filled with gratitude - with grace :)   A christian author once said "God doesn't drive us to acheive.  He simply asks us to come receive.  All great things are an overflow of His grace."  (can I get an AMEN!)  And in this receiving came the overwhelming wish to share with other crafters of faith to craft, talk, pray and lots more together - hence, the crafters of faith found each other and here we are with our debut post with me up first to post a monthly challenge! 

So for the first challenge this month, I was compelled to draw from the book of Genesis since this is beginning of the group's "creation" and to include the colors yellow (sun), blue (ocean), green (foliage, grass) and/or Brown (land), and anything from the sun, moon and stars to animals, trees, birds, flowers, Adam and Eve :), etc.   I was in the midst of a personal bible study one night and struggling to make sense of it and was struck by the verse staring out at me ~ Jeremiah 4:23 ...

"I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and empty;

and at the heavens,

and their light was gone.

I looked at the mountains,

and they were quaking;

all the hills were swaying.

I looked, and there were no people;

every bird in the sky had flown away."

I flew out to the craftroom as I remembered an old stamp (from that take it off the shelf in 2012 theory!)  that i just had to use!  I knew it in my memory, but couldn't find this blessed stamp and tore up my scraproom looking for it!  I finally gave up, and spent 4 hours on a weekend cleaning/organizing/donating and well, whatdayaknow - there it was :)  It was PERFECT!  I actually dusted off brought out my old brayer!  I haven't used that thing in .... 3 years?!  My sample cards actually came out soooo much nicer but they had a little accident with the paper cutter *sigh .... be graceful ...* :) My card creation is based on the book of Genesis in colors and the fruitful earth we have.  Even in Jer. verse 27, He tells us that the whole land will be ruined but He will not destroy it completely ~ much like the tree represents with life, roots, the green of new life.

I am so excited  to post our card creations today!  I hope you do head on over to see what the other Crafters of Faith have created as well!  You can find them off on my sidebar to the right over there :)  I'm just so blessed to know these lovely women!  Thank you, Olga, Patti, Carolina, LizW, LizD, Melina, Cynthia, Jackie, Carol, and Linda for taking this leap of "faith" - you are amazing women!  And ...  even though this is still just January, I've already stayed with so many things I put myself to task to do and just feel so moved by the blessings in my life .... and know they will only multiply!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

deets:  Cardstock by SU: Chocolate chip; Kiwi Kiss; Cool Carribbean; PTI white; DSP = Basic Grey "Marjolaine"; stamp by inkadinkadoo; inks: Old Olive by SU and Chocolate chip by SU; brayer tool; crinkle ribbon from SCH; Twine from SU; Basic Grey button; Kaiser pearls; SU border punch; trimmer; tombo