Up until this week, most of my creativity and a lot of my time has gone into cross-stitch needlework. This week has brought a lot of variation to that - in fact, I don't think I have placed a single stitch in the last 5 or 6 days. On Sunday, Belinda was given a collection of card-making equipment. She already had some herself, but the gift both prompted activity and enabled greater variation in the creativity. Accordingly, the two of us plus another friend sat down on Tuesday afternoon to make greeting cards. It was such fun! By the end of the day I had created 7 different cards. One of them didn't please me at all, so the next day I cut it up and used parts of it to make two more cards.
Part-way through card number 9 (Wednesday), two of Shane and Belinda's nephews arrived to stay for a few hours. I was able to finish the card and have another underway before I was called upon to eat lunch and then help entertain. The board game "The Game of Life" kept us amused for some time, and then it was the boys' turn to make cards. No chance there for me to continue with my own! But taking the trouble to make a few suggestions, help with the more difficult shape punches, and clean the rubber stamps for them was made doubly worthwhile when both boys decided to make their cards for me. So heartwarming! I was hugely blessed. I've decided I need a scrapbook to put such gifts into. I seem to have begun a collection.
After the boys were collected, it was nice to return to the tranquility of creating my own cards. My 11th was half-finished on the table when I stopped for the evening.
By Thursday my card-making frenzy was slowing down, but I still managed to produce another 3 for a total of 14 - not that I was aiming for a record or anything; I just had so many ideas to try! In the late afternoon, I stopped for some quiet time with God. The result was a creative idea straight from the Word of God. Where better to go for ideas than to the Creator? It wasn't long before I was back at the table, this time busy with a pencil as I scribbled down the ideas He had given me. The plan for a collage picture had taken shape. Later, during our evening prayer and praise, the Holy Spirit continued to inspire me in the formation and content of the picture, giving me the title for it and making the purpose of the picture clear. I then laid it aside to work on it today.
That was my plan this morning: work on the plan for the collage. I'll probably create the actual picture when I return from Borneo, but there's plenty of planning to do, and even that will require a lot of patience and perseverance. It's not exactly a simple project. =\ But apart from sellotaping two pieces of scrap A4 together, I got nowhere with it. Another project with a deadline presented itself. I decided to make an anniversary card (15th card in 4 days!) for my pastors who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary yesterday. Then Shane suggested I make them a gift to go with it: a cross carved from a piece of petrified wood and secured to a block of wood with a Scripture verse written alongside. I was delighted with the idea! So, with Shane as technical advisor, I spent the next 4 or 5 hours in and out of the garage, sanding, polishing, writing, and oiling. The sanding turned my hair white, the polishing wet me to the elbows and sprayed my face, hair, and down my front, I started writing "Revol" (for Revolution) instead of "Revelation" (thankfully, the 'o' adjusted fairly easily to an 'e'), and I probably transferred oil from my fingers to my jeans - but it was heaps of fun! =D Now it is finished (and beautiful), along with the card, and I am creatively exhausted! The collage can wait till tomorrow. Time for some cross-stitch, I think. Hehe.
I love life with the Creator!
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