I Have To Share A Beautiful Site With You

Copyright Valerie Sjodin 2011

I have just come across a beautiful blog called Visual Blessings by Valerie Sjodin
and I had to share it because it spoke so deeply to my heart. She is one gifted lady and you will be very blessed by her work.

Here is her blog entry for this piece:

Set Free is the second piece in the current series I'm working on. The first was posted on April 25, 2011, I Want to be a Visionary (image shown below). The inspiration for this series is taken from my journal and journey, and are for me a type of symbolic visual devotional. So I'll include here some of the Scripture that inspired the painting and my writing.
The symbolism in this painting is more straightforward. When working on the bird I read an article telling about how finches were taken from the wild because of their red plumage and captured to be sold as domestic birds. Eventually, it was found out and they were set free. So I chose red for the color of the bird wings, symbolizing us as humans who are also made to be free. The cerulean blue of the word freedom and outlining of images is to reflect the freedom and open space of the blue sky.

Psalm 124:6-8 NIV
"Praise be to the LORD…
We have escaped like a bird out of a fowler's snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the maker of heaven and earth."


"Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV


"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…." - Galatians 5:1 NIV


"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of the life set me free
from the law of sin and death."
Romans 8:1-2 NIV


The Spirit of truth will set you free.
from John 8:32

So go check out the rest of her beautiful work if you have time and be blessed.

Valerie Sjodin

Hugs and blessings everyone.

Madelyn ~ Take 2 - Finale

A few additions here and there. The first was the inside of the lower left flower. Madelyn's Mama told me the meaning of her name... Faithful Follower of Christ (Girl of God) and Wellspring of Life, so I finished the flower with these words over and over again in the circle.




The second thing I added is a third bird. Angie from AZ's comment was that the top left hand corner looked a little bare and I fully agreed. She suggested adding a third bird so I drew it out and right away saw the space fill in perfectly. I was having a hard time with the white space in the picture as I do not usually have white space but fill in every little space of white! So this was new to me in a lot of ways.



And this is the final page complete with extra bird. I really enjoyed creating this extra girlie page for baby Madelyn, she is just over 18months old I think. I think she will like the Princesses dresses and the blue birds the best!

Thank you to all of you who left me such wonderful, helpful and fun comments ~ I appreciate them so much and I am truly greatful to have such wonderful women in my life to help my creativity and inspiration - YOU ARE AWESOME!

I pray for many blessings for the rest of your week.

Hugs

For Madelyn ~ Need Feedback Please

Hello everyone. I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

I have a little request... would anyone like to give me a little feedback?

I am creating a picture for my friends daughter Madelyn, her bedroom is pink/brown and white. I created the picture with those colors in mind. What I am wondering is... do you think it's finished or is there still something needed in the background. I didn't want to make it too busy~busy, but not too bare either. Do you have any suggestions for me?

I would so much appreciate any feedback. Thanks so much all you lovely blogger friends of mine. Blessings to you for your brand new week!

Mystery Revealed

I was reading through Colossians this week and I came to the verse 1:26 "... the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to his saints."

I pondered this for awhile and suddenly this beautiful vision came into my mind of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. I thought about the three as one, separate but overlapping each other... I thought about them as a tree (as I often do) branching out over the world, the symbol of "Fishers of Men" holding them together, or binding them together because God sent His Son to the world to save the world. The heart around the world showing His great love for us. This page came together so quickly and I received such peace from meditating on this scripture.

The most beautiful thing in this world is the fact of how great, how deep, how wide and how long is the Father's love for us.

I pray that you are all having a very blessed week.

Much love and blessings to you all.

Fearfully and Wonderfully

I hope you are all having as wonderful of summer as we are here in Calgary, Alberta. It has been beautiful, sunny and hot with the occasional thunder/rainstorm now and again. We spent all Saturday at a lake not too far away as my boys experienced Banana Boating (basically a banana-shaped inflatable device towed behind a boat) and Chariot racing (which is basically the same thing but the kids kneel and hold on for dear life!) It was an awesome experience for them and for us as we were able to spend time with the youth group and some parents.

Today I am having a very quiet day and was able to get out some watercolor crayons and watercolor pencil crayons for this piece I call "Fearfully and Wonderfully".

Here's to a good night sleep and fabulous new week to everyone in blogland.
Hugs and many blessings.

Look Inside

My mind has been consumed with healing art journaling and the journey I took to healing from depression and many other things. Many memories are coming forward allowing me to process them and get them out onto the page. This page came forward when I began to think about the emptiness, desperation and loneliness of depression. I felt like I was invisible, someone without meaning or purpose. I felt lost and useless. My friends saw who I was on the outside not realizing that the real me was trapped inside unable to get out.
This has given me a whole new perspective on depression and the people who suffer with and through it. So much desperation and pain... so very sad.

I am so thankful that God healed me of my depression and continues to heal me as I work through some of the remnant of lost emotions that went with that period of my life.

Many hugs and many blessings to all of you.

Introducing Debbie Horton from the AKOA Blog Hop

Hello everyone. I hope you are all having an amazing summer. I thought I would share with you one of the artists from the AKOA blog hop, I haven't done this in awhile. As I was browsing through I was at #527 Debbie Horton of Cherry Hill Studios and found the above Art Journal Page. Isn't it gorgeous? If you go to her blog you can read all about it! She says this is her FIRST art journal page ~ WOW! I can only imagine how beautiful her next ones will be!

So just a short little post to say - "Hey, I hope you are having a wonderful Summer!"

Many Hugs and many blessings to all of you lovelies!

PS... just a note regarding the AKOA blog hop ~ I am cleaning house on some of the blogs that are no longer available so your number may be changing - HUGS!

Who Am I?

Have you ever wondered, 'Who Am I?' I have many times. I remember as a teenager I would stare in the mirror looking deep into my eyes hoping to see a glimpse of my soul ~ I hated my teenage years. No matter how hard I stared I could never see that person inside of me. Years later when I came back to Christ I finally understood who I was supposed to be, not someone pretending to be someone else... but God revealed to me His idea of who I should be. He showed me who I am in His eyes and it was beautiful. If you are in Christ you are guaranteed many things; forgiveness of your sins, acceptance and adoption into the family of God, eternal life with the Father, you become a child of God, one of His Saints. Isn't that a beautiful picture? It blows me away sometimes. We are the "Bride of Christ" and one day we will be presented to the Father as holy and blameless in His sight. This page reflects just a few of the benefits of being in Christ Jesus. To understand more look up John 3:16 and you will understand. We are His beloved. Oh what a glorious thing that is!

Happy week to you, may it be full of the Lord's blessings.

Take Captive My Thoughts Lord

I hate it when my thoughts go all over the place and I can't seem to focus. This is when I start doing too many things at once and then I get all flustered because I can't remember all the things I have going.

This is also when doubts creep to the surface and I begin to question my abilities to accomplish anything at all ~ I hate it I tell ya!

One thing my hubbub tells me is that I think too much! Do you have that problem? Last night he asked me if I am even capable of holding only one thought in my head at a time... I thought about that and realized that I CAN do this, but only when I am Art Journaling. When I am focused on a page I can actually manage to think about only the topic of the page. I realize that this process is a meditative healing balm to me as I think about how God has and is working in my life.

I pray that He holds captive my thoughts and so that they do not go off in all directions. I pray that I stay focused on Jesus so at the end of this race we call life I will receive my crown.

I hope and pray you are all having a very blessed long weekend. Hugs and many blessings to all of you.

Tshirt Image

I am helping with a fundraiser for my Church and I am trying to come up with some t-shirt ideas to sell. I was really wanting to design a t-shirt that would speak to women in regards to God's love for them. I'm not too sure how these images would look on t-shirts. What do you think? Do you think they need a border around them? Hmmmm... I will have to think on it some more.

I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend - forecast here, sunny and warm! Yay!

Hugs and many blessings to you all.

Journaling While Camping

My family and I just had the coolest weekend of camping at Glennifer Lake. I am posting three days later because it has taken me that long to recover... but it was so much fun. Our entire Church booked a group site so there were so many people and the best thing was that we actually got to know many of them over the weekend that we hadn't been able to connect with yet! Awesome times, great fellowship and beautiful beach time!

I was able to pull out my journal a few times and work on the above page, I call it my 'James Tree' as it is covered in scripture from James. I drew the tree really whimsical looking, and I was thinking about the 'taming the tongue' part of James. Why is it so hard to tame anyway? I think it is because our brain just doesn't think about what is going to come out of our mouths most of the time! As Christians we represent Christ so shouldn't our speech also represent Him? So I ask God to help me, to bless the words that come out of my mouth, to help me encourage others and build others up... I guess that should include myself too! I tend to put myself down at times... I think I need to tame my thoughts too!




My youngest (14) had some journal time too, when he had a headache. He loves to draw crosses. He went and spent some time in our van (where all my journal supplies were) and he came out with this lovely page. I knew art journaling was healing! His headache was gone by the time he finished! :)



Here's Ben and his friends at camp getting ready for their awesome tube ride behind a speed boat! Ben went on twice and loved it! Josh was gone most of the weekend with the youth but he had a blast not having to check in with his old mom and dad!

I snuggled in to the back of our van at night with a mattress, memory foam topper and all my warmy blankets. I brought tons of extra blankets and sheets to cover the windows and had my own little sanctuary to sleep in. I felt so safe in there I slept like a baby! The boys and hubbub all slept in the tent!

I Just Found A Lovely Blog Filled With Inspiration

Cori Lynn Berg of Sacred Art is now another favorite of mine. Just by chance I found her website and I LOVE her style.
Click on Sacred Art to link to her blog.

This piece spoke to me and the words that went with it, read her words on her blog. She is such an inspiration. This painting is the cover for a journal, wow! I am amazed. Thanks Cori for sharing your inspiration with the world!

I hope you enjoy her blog and are as inspired as me!
Hugs and blessings everyone!

The Truth Shall Set You Free From Comfort Cottage

I have been unable to post lately, sorry. However, today I would love to share with you a friends post over at Comfort Cottage. Terri really shares her heart and it is truly apparent in todays post.

Please go take a look at her blog and see her lovely art work. http://terrimorse.typepad.com/comfortcottage/2011/07/true-freedom.html

Many hugs and blessings to all of you.

Hypermobility of The Joints

Do you remember doing this as a kid? I think I must have lived in this position as I layed on the floor watching tv. To me it was the most natural position to be in. I remember my sisters teasing me about how double-jointed or flexible I was and I was happy to entertain them.

Last week I had an appointment with a Rheumatoid Specialist and they did a head-to-toe exam on me (the first I had ever had which is pretty ridiculous considering I have had pain in my joints since I was 9 years old). Anyway, they tested ALL of my joints and what they discovered was that I did not have Rheumatoid Arthritis, or Lupus (which is good), but what I do have is a hypermobility of all my joints.



Most people grow out of this (double-jointedness). But some do not. I still have it and this is the reason for all the pain in my joints. I am still in shock that no-one has told me this before! I don't know that it effects everyone in the same way but for me there is too much movement in my joints and this causes immflamation and pain ~ that is why I cannot exercise like everyone else because my joints are already overextended as it is.

They also told me I have a bad case of Fibromyalgia (which I already knew) but it was funny because the specialist knew exactly what points on my body gave me pain (and unfortunately she kept poking at them! (OUCH! QUIT IT! OUCH! QUIT IT!...LOL)
I was so impressed with this clinic because they really understand pain and were so helpful in explaining what was actually going on in my body. Chronic pain is not understood by many in the medical field but the specialists are so understanding and they treat you like a person, unlike others who treat you like it's all in your head.

For some reason I have extremely sensitive reflexes and at one point during the session there were two Rheumatoid specialists, one physiotherapist and an RN all using me for entertainment because my reflexes were so brisk and sensitive! Because they were all so nice, and that day was a good pain day, I was once again happy to entertain.:)

I am so glad to finally know the reason for my joint pain, and now the Specialist clinic is going to set me up with exercises that are for people with hypermobility so that I don't keep hurting myself. It feels good to get some answers and to be on the right road to not hurting myself anymore.

Well, I hope and pray you all have a wonderful day. Here it is raining... but I'm okay with that as this gives me time to work on my book.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you.

I Am My Beloved's

Yesterday was a doodle day for me as I watched some movies/tv shows we have on DVD. As most of you know we do not have cable tv or satellite or whatever they do these days... LOL! We are not completely out of it when it comes to world news, we still listen to the radio and whenever we check our emails the news comes up... so we aren't COMPLETELY out of touch. We like it this way... we do not like all the STUFF that is thrown at you in commercials and some tv shows ~ NO THANK YOU! We are simple people I would like to think, and we strive for the simpler life.

Anyway, yesterday I got to doodle some and as I doodled I thought about my Savior! I can't help but think of Him... where would I be without Him? My life could have taken a far different path and I would have been lost forever! Jesus came and rescued me right at my breaking point... and for that I will always be thankful. So many are lost to the world these days, left in pain and sorrow. HE can take it all away, we need only ask Him.

This reminds me of the week after my Dad passed away, I went to Church that Sunday. For some reason Pastor Barry called an altar call (which was highly uncommon for this Church) and I went up for prayer. A tall grey haired man came to the front to pray for me, I had never seen him before and he did not know my situation having just lost my father. He looked into my tear-filled eyes and said these words, "Jesus takes the place of the ones we lose." Then he prayed for my healing. I never saw that man again but many years later our paths crossed in a most peculiar way... He was head of the Board of the Foursquare Church in Canada and I was working at a Foursquare Church as secretary. I was given the task of putting together a scrapbook for him and I saw a picture of him and knew instantly this was the man who prayed over me after my Dad passed away. For years I thought he was an angel because the words that he told me began my healing journey to grieving for my earthly Father. Because of my job, I was able to place a tribute in the scrapbook telling him how thankful I was for that prayer. He may not have been an angel, but he was certainly like an angel to me by saying those words.

Jesus cares for us and looks after us when we are hurting. I am so in love with Him. Thank you Jesus for this beautiful memory.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you. I hope and pray you are all having a lovely weekend.

D.T.W. (Aka Duck Tape Wallets!)

One of my son's friends at school came to school one day with a DTW (duck tape wallet) and he sold 10 of them, quite the entrepreneur I would say! Ben really liked the idea of these wallets so I 'you-tubed' it and found a great video tutorial




We went to Michael's this morning and loaded up with all sort's of Duck Tape! Ben spent two hours making his very first wallet!



Then we kept going and I made one and he made another.







These wallets have two main pockets to hold money and receipts or whatever, card holders and a window slot to put I.D. They are so cool and fun to make!



I love the window slot ~ every wallet needs one right?



When we finished making them Ben turned to me and said, "I enjoy making new things with you Mom, we should do this more often... yes indeed." I agreed. LOL! I love my time with my boys!

Hope you enjoy this awesome video tutorial and our wallets.

Have a blessed day!

Paper Dolls

I have not had the opportunity to load these pictures and tell you about my fabulous Saturday with my girlfriend Charlene and her adorable daughters Brooklyn and Tessa! Hubbub went on his very first motorbike trip to Fernie, BC with a group of guys from Church and I had my girlie time!

Girls are so wonderful ~ it's true! I am not used to having girls around and I'm definitely not used to making arts and crafts with them, well let me tell you what a treat this past Saturday was!

When the girls sat down at the table to look at the book (Julie Nutting's Collage Couture) their eyes were so dreamy and full of wonder, they couldn't wait to get started! I had already cut out the paper doll parts and attached them with brads (it could be kind of tricky for little fingers to do). Now, they needed to decide what kind of outfits their dolls were going to have... Brooklyn chose an elegant style dress that is sort of country-like in the book, but we made it more into an evening gown; Tessa was frilly all the way, she chose the most colorful dress in the book and she wanted to use just as many colors!

After choosing their dress styles I had them choose their colors of papers (I had a number of beautiful scrapbook paper that are all girlie that I was just waiting to use), again their eyes went all dreamy as they ooooed and aahed their way through the pages. I LOVED SEEING THIS and was so blessed by this girlie time.

Now it was time for cookies and milk while I drew out their gowns on tissue paper then cut out each piece separately. The girls were so patient as they waited for me to finish.

When their gowns came together they were in awe, they LOVED them! After placing the dresses on their dolls I created some hair and headbands for their new dolls.

Brooklyn named her doll Jessica using her middle name and Tessa named her Kelly after ME! (Super awesomeness!)



And here are Jessica and Kelly fully finished! I hear they played with them the entire day at home.

Thanks Charlene, Brooklyn and Tessa for coming to play with me, I had a wonderful time!

Hugs and blessings Everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Introducing #714 Kerry Estey Keith

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a fabulous summer day! I have not shared inspiration from the Artists on the All Kinds of Artists Blog Hop in a while and a new member has joined today and I just had to share with you her beautiful photograph. Her name is Kerry Estay Keith from A Woman and A Wild Place (LOVE THIS NAME BY THE WAY!)
Her blog took me on a mystical journey through wildlife and photography as you can tell by this fantasy-like photo of hers. If such a journey appeals to you go take a look at her blog.
Can you believe the number of Artists linked up is at 714????? What a blessing!
Hugs and happy sunshine blessings to you.