Hope Shines

WOIW  --  Word of Inspiration Wednesday

... is a weekly art project in Kraafters Kommunity on Google Plus. Every Wednesday, Heather gives us a word to Inspire our Creativity. This week's word is HOPE. Most every time I hear that word, the little Bible song I learned in Sunday School rings in my head. You know the one...

"Have Faith, Hope, and Charity,

that's the way to live successfully

How do I know

The Bible tells me so..."

I don't know of any person who does not have HOPE, regardless of your religion, or non-religion. Granted, you might call it dreams, or aspirations, or expectations, wishes, belief, desires, goals or promises, but we all have it, it is part of our very Being.

HOPE is a powerful word. And just like that little song, it is entwined with FAITH and CHARITY. They are one and the same, yet all different with their own respectful meanings, but none can exist without the others.  HOPE gives us the FAITH to LOVE (Charity).  FAITH allows us to HOPE through LOVE.  And LOVE binds our HOPES to FAITH.

All three are what gives us courage to face another day, to belief in ourselves, our accomplishments, to LOVE ourselves and one another, to have FAITH in ourselves and one another, and to have HOPE for our wellbeing, our Futures, our strengths to carry on.  

Even if the load is much to bear, or the road is bumpy and rocky, or the path is blocked... our HOPE sees us through. When days are beautiful and all things are right in our Lives, we still have HOPE... it is that smile that crosses our faces, or those tears of Joy, or that sweet music of a loved one's voice.

HOPE fills us up, it nourishes our Souls. It is the sweet nectar of FAITH and LOVE. It is our Salvation...

"Tag" Along With Me...

Manila Shipping Tag Booklet

I just posted my latest KISS Video over on my YouTube Channel -- taboriginal. It's a cute little booklet made from those adorable shipping tags, ya know the kind, manila with strings attached.

I inked them up with Distress Inks Seasonal Colors: Festive Berries, Pine Needles and Evergreen Bough, white embossed a few beautiful Christian Sentiments from Isaiah and Proverbs, adding dimension to the tags.

Check out the video below or over on my YouTube Channel HERE

Stills of the two little tag booklets:

This Is The Face Of Pain

PAIN

I belong to a wonderful Community on Google+ called Kraafters Kommunity. Every Wednesday we are challenged with a Word which we are asked to use in a creative way.  On Oct 1st we were given PAIN.

I was struck by this word, and it has given me considerable thought. This is how I see PAIN:

What??? You don't see it?? Neither do I and neither do most people. We hide our PAIN, we mask it with the socially acceptable "Happy Face" -- the non-committal, non-expression face of nothingness. Why???

PAIN can range from the mundane annoyance to placating our Soul to God for strength to handle the torture.  It can be physical pain, emotional pain, real pain or imaginary pain. They all exist and they all affect us in varied ways.

We can "see" physical pain via cuts or bruises and as that heals we might see the scars left behind. We can't see the emotional pain, nor the toll it takes as it heals but leaves it's hidden scars that forever change us.

And no matter how much, or little, pain we have in our lifes, we never fully share it's depth with another. We keep it hidden because we can't express it, or we don't want to. We have our hidden reasons, so we will put on that "Happy Face" and go forth...

One Pull Wonders Day 6, Carolyn Dube Playtime

Day 6 -- It's A Drag (And That's A Good Thing)

I have gotten behind in my Gelli Plate Workshop, bummer.  As I play catch-up, I am jumping around with the Day's postings. This is Day 3, from Week 2.

I just love this technique because it involves 2 Gelli Plates, and I love working with 2 of them at a time. If you would like to play along, you can sign-up for Carolyn's Workshop HERE - One Pull Wonders

This is pull #1. It got a tad "muddy" which was expected because of the layering and paint, but I think it is pretty cool anyways. If you could see it in person, it looks 3D--- all the texture and layers and the swirls -- wow!!!

This is the second pull which brought up more of the initial (first) layers of paint:

I had soooo much paint on the GP i was able to get a 3rd pull:

And I certainly did not want to waste any paint on my little GP so here is the first pull from that. It is a tab muddy also, but that was expected here too. I did not want to "smooch" the paint, so I just laid the paper down and pulled it up:

Then I got another pull which still had a ton of paint on it but not the muddy, more of the other layers:

This is the 3rd pull from that little plate:

And a 4th:

And here's the 5th!!! I brayered on some gel medium to rewet the paint as it was starting to dry, but I still had these colors on and wanted them on a pull:

WOW -- such a fun technique!! 

If you want to learn some great GP Techniques and play along with us, click HERE for the link to Carolyn Dube's One Pull Wonders OnLine Workshop -- its wonderfully "funtastic" !!!

One Pull Wonders, Carolyn Dube, Day 3

Over, Under, In and Out, All Around...

Boy did I ever have fun today with the technique Carolyn showed. WOW, it was a blast!!  After laying down paint and stencil as Carolyn demoed today, this is my first Gelli Plate pull:

Here is my over stencil pull. Love all the colors in this one:

This is the under stencil pull which it has the main colors I laid down on the Gelli Plate:

Here is another set I did, same order as the first:

The following are the "brayer cleanups" While off loading my brayer, I loved the first swipe and decided to NOT mix the rolls but to keep them separate until the brayer was clean. I love how these turned out!!!

While I was laying down the paint per the technique, I off loaded some unto my 5x5 plate, before I rolled onto the cleanup papers. I loved how the paint looked on the roller and wanted to capture that on my small Gelli Plate for a pull:

This is a "funstatic" class, getting messy, playing with colors and leaning great techniques. If you want to play along, please see Carolyn's web site for info on "One Pull Wonders" or click the links I have in this post, they will take you to her website.

One Pull Wonders, Carolyn Dube Playtime, Day 2

Oh boy!!!  Today's class is FINGER PAINTING!!! WooHoo!!!  Great to be a kid again, thank you Carolyn.

This is the first pull, with the stencil on, from a fun technique Carolyn taught today. I used deli-paper to makes the first 3 pulls. It was messy, it was gooey, it has lots of texture, and it was FUN!!! You can play along too, just visit her web site and sign up for this class -- One Pull Wonders.

This is the second pull -- less paint but still some texture

The third pull is getting more distressed looking, less paint, but still way too cool!!

The forth pull I used plain old printer paper!! It is soo distressed -- I Love it!!!

Next, I removed the stencil and began making pulls. The first is so vibrant and full of lots of great texture

The second still has lots of paint on it

and the third still has paint to pull,

If you have a Geli Plate and want to play along with Carolyn Dube, please sign up for her class - One Pull Wonders - it is typical Carolyn with lots of fun, laughs, OOPS, and color - so much color -  and her amazing teaching techniques!!

Gelli Plate playdate with Carolyn Dube, Day 1

Today begins a funtastic workshop, One Pull Wonders, working with the Gelli Plate.  Carolyn Dube of A Colorful Journey, has this great talent for creative, innovative and just plain fun techniques using the Gelli Plate. My first intro to the Gelli Plate was with an online workshop by Carolyn, who's patience, wit, humor and vast knowledge took the mystique out of this fabulous medium. She just makes ya wanna play along, the "Oh, Oh, pick me" type of teacher that just brings the creativity out of you.

If you want to "play along", visit her website and sign-up for the class called One Pull Wonders. It is an Online Classroom, which you take at your leisure, in the comfort of your home, when you want. It's a beautiful thing!!!

If you are familiar with the Gelli Plate, you know you can get more than one "pull" from the paint/media you have laid down on the plate. Each "pull" produces unique images, never the same.

Today she taught us a technique that just "rocks my socks"!!! It is soooo easy, so simple, yet produces these fabulous results of texture and layers all in one process!!! Here are my "pulls" from class today:

This is the first pull after applying paint and doing the process Carolyn demoed in class. Look at that texture in this -- amazing!!

This is the 2nd "pull". Still some texture, but not as much as the first "pull"

The 3rd gets less and starts to look somewhat distressed to me, like weathered wood

The 4th "pull" is more of a mop-up, to clear the Gelli Plate

The final one is just as amazing as the first "pull", and it was soooo simple to do. Look at all those colors, the way they mix, the texture...

If you want to learn how this was done, please join us in Carolyn's One Pull Wonders Online Workshop. You'll love it!!!