On the Third Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me....

Deryn Mentock is a truly talented artist. I got goosebumps all over when her package arrived in the mail and getting to open her gift felt much like Christmas morning when I was 5. I jumped out of bed and ran to grab the present from the pile!

The clip on glass bird ornament sits perched upon Deryn's wire nest. I don't even have the words to describe how it made me feel when I first laid eyes on it.

Mutual friend and group member, JoAnnA, wrote about Deryn's ornament "her work always makes me think of God.

And indeed it does.

Deryn has a heart for the Lord that is reflected in her work whether she is making a piece about Him or not. His light just shines through her work no matter what the subject is.

Be sure to visit JoAnnA's blog to read about how much Deryn's ornament moved her.

Deryn has wrapped antique Bible text around the tiny eggs in the nest and has used a resin technique on the antique text leaf.

Thank-you Deryn! This will be cherished forever!

On The Second Day of Christmas

On the second day of the swap it was my turn to present my gift to the group.

This caused no small amount of headaches...sweat...grief...tears of frustration...and finally resignation to the fact that the ornament I had envisioned (when I was finally able to envision one!) was not the ornament that I was going to produce.

First of all, that WAY COOL graffiti like background effect? A complete accident.

I painstakingly clipped each of the bird images from an antique dictionary and attached them to the glass. Then glued the glass down to an antique sheet music cover.

Gorgeous colors on that cover and the effect with the bird was so pretty, until the colors began to run all over the place from the glue!

I hurridly peeled the first piece off, but part of the cover came with it!

The result was this way cool graffiti like effect.

WAY COOL.

Now I do have to confess that I wanted to play this off as intentional.

Yeah, I meant to do that.

So totally intended for that to happen.

I even came up with a name for the "technique".

"Color Lifting"

But in the spirit of Christmas (and all that is moral and right), I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Nope.

It was an accident.

One I like to call a happy accident, or accident #1.

Which brings me to happy accident (or maybe just, okay I can live with it accident) #2.

The group has been oohing and ahhing (I think they are just being nice) over the faux rusty vintage copper patina of the sides and back of the piece that so nicely matches the chain.

But it was not supposed to be RUSTY COPPER!

It was supposed to be SHINEY AND BRIGHT!

But for the life of me I could not find my soldering skills! As a matter of fact I haven't been able to find them for a long long while. But that's a story for another post.

After ruining 2 ornaments (and the tip of my soldering iron with them) I was very nearly in tears.

It was a Sunday night, 2 days AFTER the final mailing date and here I sat with a bunch of unfinished ornaments and an uncooperative soldering iron!

After pacing the house, crying and, er, praying out loud, my eyes finally landed on the bottle of copper paint and green patina sitting in my studio.

Was that a choir of angels I heard?

I swear a beam of light shone down from the ceiling to illuminate the inconspicous little bottles of faux finish, barely used because I am not a fan of patina in a can (or plastic bottle). I just prefer the beauty of naturally aged pieces.

But there was no time for Natural Beauty! I had a deadline I'd already missed!

Finally the pieces are finished, and I've wrapped them all up with buttons and mica flakes inside for good measure.

The buttons represent the marbles I lost over this project, and the mica flakes represent the tears!

Now, I know I had stashed something around the house to use for my number on my tags. Where did I put them?

Argh! Accident #3 was not so happy.

I must have lost one too many marbles that day and could not remember what I was planning on using for my number on the tag so I had to hurridly write a #2 on the box and get them out in the mail.

But all is well, the group seems to like them.

Next year I won't wait so long. As a matter of fact I've seriously been considering making next years ornaments this year on Christmas Day....

On The First Day of Christmas....

Well it's that time of year again. I can hardly believe it's true! This year I am participating in 2 different "12 Days of Christmas" art swaps. The first group began opening gifts on December 1st and will continue through the 12th day of December. Lucky me, only a few days later the second group begins opening, meaning I will have a gift for nearly every day this month!

First from a wonderful group called "Adorn" on December 1st I received this beautiful (and I mean beautiful!) Partridge in a Pear Tree from the talented Ruth Rae.

Ruth's attention to detail just never ceases to amaze me. From the intricate and thoughtful way the gift was packaged, to the many layers of the gift itself. There is so much to look at that I discover something new each time I look.

Included with Ruth's gift was this explanation of the song "The 12 Days Of Christmas". (Which I am pasting directly from Ruth's blog, but be sure to pay it a visit personally because it is a virtual feast in itself!)

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in 15th century England as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith. The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem:"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..." (Luke 13:34)

What's The Big Deal About Prayer Anyway?

After my last post I felt convicted that I needed to clarify my thoughts on prayer. I didn't want to leave the impression that I didn't believe in prayer, because nothing could be further from the truth, but what is the big deal about prayer anyway?

I know from the Bible that God does respond as a result of prayer. Many many times I've seen Him responding directly to prayer in my own life and the lives of others, so how could I say there is no power in it?

Because I am just a weak vessel and the power is His. When I pray it is His power that works through me, not because of anything I can do, but because of what he can do.

Its not about a mumbo jumbo magic formula or perfect combination of words to convince God to give me all that I want or need.

Its about the relationship that is built with Him when I pray. About knowing who He is and who He wants me to be. Its about letting Him open my eyes to see the world with the Hope that He gives me. Its about staying connected the way you would want to stay connected to your husband or your best friend.

"Pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17

The big deal about prayer is simply being with Him.

In Need of A Big Big God

I spent an amazing 3 days at Valley Ridge Art Studio last weekend under the tutelage of the awesomely talented jewelry and mixed media artist Susan Lenart Kazmer . I came away with more inspiration from that one 3 day workshop then I have had in a long long time.

Susan is such a gracious and giving artist, teaching and guiding with patience and enthusiasm, steering each student toward at least one completed project, which was tough considering all the techniques she introduced us to in the 3 days we were there. Just as I was planning to give up she would encourage me with "you're almost there!" and I would push on, stopping to watch her demos and practice other techniques with the class.

The last morning she encouraged so well that just about every student managed to create a jointed wire frame bracelet and develop new skills with a torch. For me, just being able to pick up the torch was a big accomplishment, and I left feeling comfortable enough with it to want to buy one to use at home.

Under Susan's sincere encouragement I managed to deviate from the class project of making a journal and instead created this Prayer Box Choker from a handcrafted antique cookie tin and bits & pieces of several old rosaries, including the cross and some of the religious medals.

Prayer boxes are used in many different religions. The wearer writes his or her prayers or chooses items of significance that represent their prayers or wishes and puts them in the box wearing it as jewelry to keep them close until the prayers or wishes come true.

I love the concept but as I contemplated what would go inside of my box I couldn't help thinking, is there power in this box? If I put my prayers inside and wear them close will they be more likely to come true?

As I sorted through my treasures looking for the perfect object to put in my prayer box I picked up an antique rosary and wondered, is there power in this little piece of metal? Or these antique glass beads? These objects that were made by human hands? Can we carve an image, even if it is the image of Jesus hanging on the cross, and find power there?

Is there power in my prayers?

With all of my heart I knew the answer was No. There is no power in these little objects made by man. There isn't power in my prayers.

But there is power in the one that I am praying to.

You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

Psalm 77:14

Have I been keeping God inside a box? Keeping my expectations of Him low so as not to be disappointed? Putting more faith in my own prayers then in the one that I am praying to?

Today I am in need of a big big God. One that still performs miracles. One that displays His power among His people. My hope can not be in any man, or even in myself or the combination of my words. My hope can only be in God. A big big God.

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Psalm 150:2