Stamp Carving Fun

I took a drawing from my sketchbook and traced it onto a carving block and then after about 10 min of carving and a whole lot of scraps. This is what I ended up with. I wish I had taken step-by-step photos but sometimes when I get in the mood to create something I just don’t feel like stopping to take them.

Life is like a Garden

As I was out working alone in my garden today a thought came to me. Life is like a garden and how that sometimes we have to go through changes and stages in our lives to be able to grow.

I took a look at my peas and beans that just 2 weeks ago that I could have cooked and eaten them and only had a very small amount, but I buried them in the ground and now I have the opportunity to harvest much more and be able to feed more than just my family.

When I think about this I think how God plants seeds into out lives that have to be buried in our hearts to be allowed to grow. If we do not open out hearts for the seeds to go deep into the dark places to be able to sprout and grow, and only then will they bear fruit that can them be planted into other people. This is just a simple lesson but sometimes the greatest lessons are the simple ones.

Wordless Wednesday

You’re Already Amazing Chapters 1 & 2

You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be By Holley Gerth Many women are tired. Tired of trying to do more, be more, and have more. With busy work, home and church lives, it's easy to feel like our spiritual growth gets short-changed. But what if God is already pleased, more than pleased--totally head over heels crazy about us and our hearts regardless of our mistakes and crunched schedules? If it's true, that big load we've been carrying feels lighter already. In You're Already Amazing, Holley Gerth wants readers to know that they can lay down the burden of their own, and others expectations, and embrace who they are as beloved, talented women. Rediscover the gifts you've been given and the life of purpose that God has for you.

Chapters 1 & 2 Video on (In)Courage
I just want to start out by saying that I believe that God placed this book into my life as a confirmation for the path that he has been leading me to for sometime, I just never had the confidence to embrace the calling.
As I was working through my strengths the 3 that popped out to me were Encouraging, Positive, & Trustworthy. These are things that I always try to put into every aspect of my life. The skills that I circled were Connecting, Motivating & Supporting. These are strengths and skills that I can use when working for God. Yes I do have other strengths but when I put in the element of working for God into the equation these are the ones that really fit my life.
I have always felt that I was drawn to help other women who were struggling with doubt like I have and I feel that I am at my best when I am listening and encouraging them through the truths of God's word. I love to help people and be able to speak a positive word of encouragement into their lives even when I might be going through a trial.
I also try to encourage my husband to have more confidence in his ability to handle situations and storms that comes into our lives. I feel I have grown in my walk with God over the past few years to where I am able to listen to Him more than I listen to myself. I have had times of doubt but God has pulled me through it and helped me to grow from the experience.

This Month

I just wanted to let my readers know that I an here and so sorry that I have not been posting regularly these past couple of weeks. Next week I will be having major oral surgery and will have a few of weeks of recovery time. I have had this type of surgery before but I was 10 years younger and I know that the recovery time will be different this time, so I am asking you to keeping me and my family in your prayers. I have a few post that I have been working on and will be working on over the next week prior to my surgery that I will have scheduled to keep up with fresh content. I hope that you all know that I value each and everyone of you my readers and I thank you in advance for your prayers.

My Garden is Growing

I thought I would share an update on my garden. It is growing, and I am so excited. the weather has been so warm here and so I have put out plants out for squash, cucumber, zucchini and tomatoes. My onions, garlic and rhubarb have flourished.

We planted seeds for bean plants and marigolds in each corner of the raised bed to help control pest naturally.

We worked in the flowerbed in the front yard and planted peonies, gladiolus elephant ear, and moonflowers. I forgot to take a picture of the front yard so I will post them soon.

You’re Already Amazing

You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be By Holley Gerth Many women are tired. Tired of trying to do more, be more, and have more. With busy work, home and church lives, it's easy to feel like our spiritual growth gets short-changed. But what if God is already pleased, more than pleased--totally head over heels crazy about us and our hearts regardless of our mistakes and crunched schedules? If it's true, that big load we've been carrying feels lighter already. In You're Already Amazing, Holley Gerth wants readers to know that they can lay down the burden of their own, and others expectations, and embrace who they are as beloved, talented women. Rediscover the gifts you've been given and the life of purpose that God has for you.

Yesterday, I was blessed to receive a copy of the book “You’re Already Amazing” by Holley Gerth. The InCourage site is hosting the Bloom Book Club and the selection for this session is this book. I knew that this book was what I needed to be reading right now and I think God for letting them choose me to receive one at no cost. I will be participating in this book club over the next ___ weeks and I hope to share my experience here. For the new readers coming from InCourage I will give you a little back story into my life.
In January 2011 I felt that God was wanting to use me more that he already was in my current position as a Para Support but I did not know what that would be. I really loved my job but I just kept feeling like there was something more out there that I was supposed to be doing. so for the next few months I prayed about it asking for the directions that I needed to go and for God to open the doors or to shut the doors that I thought were open for me.
Over the next few months I thought I was supposed to move into teaching Art, so I applied for every Art teaching position in my county and a few out of the county. Each one of the positions look very promising and I felt that this must be where God was leading me. I know now never to rely on your feelings just to wait on God.
Well after countless interviews and long waits for answers I thought I had this one position. Up until this point this door looking like the one that I was to walk through, but God had other plans for my life.
In June 2011 the door for teaching Art in a public school setting closed and at first I was heartbroken. I felt like a failure, that I was not good enough , that somehow I was never going to be able to step up from where I was to where I thought I needed to be. Maybe that was my problem. It was where “I” thought I needed to be and not where God wanted me to be.
I kept praying to God to show me what I should do and in July 2011, I felt that I needed to leave the Job that I was currently working at. (It was being cut by 25 % and would have cost me more to go back and forth to work that I would have been bringing home.) I kept waiting for another door to open but noting ever did, so I thought I would have to return to this position when school started back.
One morning July 12, 2011 I woke up with a word on my heart, and that word was  “Leap”. I thought about it all day and for a couple of days after that. I prayed and that is when I know that God showed me that I had not taken the “Leap” of Faith and cut ties with the previous job. So on July 19, I submitted my letter and left a job that I have worked at for 4 years to stay-at-home with my girls and homeschool them,
As I prepared for the school year with my girls at home I kept thinking that there had to be more that I was supposed to do, but if it was just for my girls I would do it, and do it with a smile on my face. But God had other plans. I began to help out at my church more, doing things that I really love to do but never had the opportunity to before. God opened doors that I never even knew were there. I know that for now I am where God wants me to be and where I fit.
That brings me back to now. God has me where he wants me to be but I still feel that I am not good enough, that I don’t have what it takes. I know that this book is fore me because sometimes you need to hear something a few times to get it in your head and I am trying to become what God created me to be, and He wants me and you to know that we are Already Amazing

Friday Giveaway 2 Winners

Today’s giveaway is for 1 of 2  $5 Gift Certificate to A Southern Lady’s Designs Etsy Shop.
The gift certificate is good for $5 off any purchase and does not include shipping and handling.
Here is a special coupon code for my blog readers : FLOWERS This code will give you 20% off your next order. Just enter it at checkout.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sponsor Spotlight Fat Quarter Shop

The Fat Quarter Shop is at it again with the fifth annual Designer Mystery Block of the MonthTM featuring their favorite designers. This year, they will showcase a vintage sampler quilt with traditional blocks full of color and style! They have kits avaliable and this is what you will receive:

• 12 different sampler blocks featuring the Vintage Modern collection by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics.
• Each block finishes at 12" and will be an easy to intermediate pieced block (no templates, applique or paper piecing),
• Block of the month suitable for all quilters.

A Little Blog Break

I did not mean to take a blog break but Life happens. Lest weekend I took my girls to a conference for young girls and we had a great time. We stayed in a Dorm with about 50 other girls and there chaperones. Then my youngest got sick and was sick for a few days. So this is just a little explanation for my absents. I am trying to get back on schedule and will be hosting a new giveaway here tomorrow. It is going to be great so come back and check it out.

Thursday Show and Tell Link Party

I have really been spending my time working on my garden as well as my Etsy Shop. I have over 100 items listed in the shop ranging from my handmade items to yarn, how-to books, and other supplies. I have also spent item rearranging it to better showcase the items that I sell. So I hope you go over and take a look around. This month I am offering a Coupon Code for FREE SHIPPING the code is “ marchblitz “ if you enter this at checkout your will receive free shipping on you whole order. I want to showcase some of the items from my front page here today and let you know that you can follow me on Twitter @ASouthernLadysR or Like me on FB and keep up with new items as they are listed as well as various coupon codes when they are offered.

<div align="center"><a href="http://asouthernladysramblings.blogspot.com" title="A Southern Lady's Ramblings"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z368/asouthernladysramblings/Shabbybutton.jpg" alt="A Southern Lady's Ramblings" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The Rules:
Follow with GFC if possible
Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
Link back here if possible.
You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway I look forward to see what you have created. There is no special theme to this party just link up to 3 items Per Person.

Smash Book Pages

Right before Christmas I made myself a Smash Journal with my Bind-it-all Machine and I loved how it turned out. I wanted to share a few of the pages that I have created in it so far.

Gardening Layer by Layer

This is the first layer that we added to the beds. It is a 2 inch layer of composted manure. We just used the dirt from our horse paddocks and now I have a good base of soil to start out.

The second layer that was added was a layer of old newspaper. This is to keep the soil from becoming packed and also to help promote the earthworms to stay in the area or either come up from deeper in the ground under the beds. This layer had to be wet down good so that it would not blow away and also to help it begin to breakdown.

The third layer is a layer of brown leaves and about a good 3 –4 inches of leaves.

I forgot to take a picture of the final layer of 3-4 inches of composted manure and let it set a couple of days before planting starts.

Next Week I will post on planting

Thursday Show and Tell Link Party

Grab a Button to link back so that everyone can join in on the party.

<div align="center"><a href="http://asouthernladysramblings.blogspot.com" title="A Southern Lady's Ramblings"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z368/asouthernladysramblings/Shabbybutton.jpg" alt="A Southern Lady's Ramblings" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now for the Linky Party
The Rules:
Follow with GFC
Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
Link back here if possible.
You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway I look forward to see what you have created. There is no special theme to this party just link up to 3 items Per Person.

A New Garden Spot

I have been planning a new garden spot all winter. Now that I am a WAHM  I have a little more time to spend on a garden and I really want to grow some of the food items that end up on our table. So this weekend I was so excited when my Husband said that he would build my raised beds for me. Well I wanted to share them with you today and I hope to begin to track my progress each Monday. This new series will be titled Gardening Monday. I have had gardens in the past but once I started working full time I found it very hard to keep up with it in the early stages when it needs the most attention. I hope this year that I will be and I will be incorporating life science lessons for the girls during this project. They are excited about this and we will be making newspaper pots this week to start our seeds in. We will be deciding on the seeds and what we want to grow this week also. I know that Anastasia is very interested in having a butterfly garden in one of the beds.

Each of the beds have an interior measurement of 4 foot by 8 foot. This will make it easy to reach the center of the beds without compressing the soil.I am planning on plating onion sets down the center of the beds because once they are planted they will not really have to be bothered with much. 

We started bringing some of the rich soil from our horse paddocks and from the compost pile that my husband has going.. One of the best things that I have going for me it I have a large supply of rich compost and free fertilizer. A couple of years ago I took 25 gallon barrels and used the soil from the pens to grow sweet potatoes and we ended up with a bumper crop.

Later this week He will be building me a smaller bed for me to plant garlic and herb plants. I am so excited about growing my own garlic and herbs. I use garlic in everything and I would love to try some of homegrown garlic. I will be starting out with some organic garlic bulbs that I have on hand to get the bed started.

Next Monday: Building a better garden bed one layer at a time.

I hope you will come back next Monday to see how it has progressed. And remember to come back on Thursday for the Link Up Party and Friday we will have a new giveaway.

Friday Free for All

We woke up this morning to storms, lots of rain, thunder and lighting. It is gray and dreary outside to we will be staying home all day and I hope that I will be able to get a few projects finished.

I finished a bunch of lanyards and a dress last night. I even made an outfit for my daughter’s doll. She was so excited. I let her pick the fabrics, and made a skirt and peasant shirt for it.

I made this in a size 6-9mo. I really need a cute model to really show how it looks. I love the way it turned out.

When I make doll clothes I just use what ever color thread that is in the machine. I really like they way they colors turned out.  A gray day really makes it hard to get a good picture. Maybe later.

Thursday link up

This week the public schools have been out and the girls normal routines have been altered so that they can enjoy playing with their friends, School days have been flip-flopped so that they do more work at night and in the early parts of the day instead of in one long stretch. So this means that my time has been flipped upside down also. I have been worked more on the computer and planning projects as well and sorting supplies so that I will have everything ready to start sewing again today and tomorrow. On Monday we took a trip to the Yellow River Game Ranch and then had a picnic lunch at Stone Mountain. It was a fun day and the pictures in this post are from there.

Now for the Linky Party
The Rules:

1. Follow with GFC
   
2. Link up to your blog post not your main blog page.
   
3. Link back here if possible.
   
4. You can link any Family Friendly post, Etsy Shop, or Giveaway

I look forward to see what you have created. There is no special theme to this party just link up to 3 items Per Person.

February Digital Kit

This months digital kit is live now in the Etsy Shop.

This months kit is very textural and has a green and blue color scheme with the addition of magenta flowers and is fun and full of exciting textures. I love how this kit turned out I added a sheet of words and two sheets of journaling spots for you to add to your pages or art work.

Each Kit will include
4 – 8x10” digital image sheets
2 sheet of Journaling Spots
1 Sheet of Words for Collage

Each the images in this kit are from original mixed media art that I have created. Each one if a HQ digital image of the original painting.
I have been working for the past few months to create a large portfolio of work to be able to debut my line of Digital Downloads. These images can be used for Scrapbooks, art journals, collage, and so much more. Each of the images in the collections will include my original designs and paintings.
I have them in a format that you can download and either used them in your digital scrapbooks as backgrounds or print them out and use them for art journals, collage or in a traditional scrapbook.
You will receive:
1 - PDF file with all kit items
4 - 8x10 digital image sheets as a JPEG file
2 - 8x10 sheet of journal spots as a JPEG file
1 - 8x10 sheet of Words for collage as a JPEG file

Each sheet can be printed out and cut up to use in various ways. Print then out on various surfaces such as paper, canvas, full sheet labels, Ink jet fabric. Then you can use it for scrapbook paper, mixed media projects, collage, art journal pages...the possibilities are endless.
You will not receive a hard copy of the files, you will just receive the digital files

This months digital kit is live now in the Etsy Shop.

Monday Monday Views from My Sketchbook

My Current Giveaway can be found here. Come back on Thursday for Show and Tell Thursday Linky Party