Friday, June 20

Anxiously Engaged

I love bee’s.  I don’t know what it is about them but they really fascinate me. They are such busy little organized things and work so well together.   We all depend on them.

_MG_1381_edited-1

One of our church leaders, M. Russell Ballard gave a talk called Anxiously Engaged.    He discusses Bee’s and their purpose and how it can compare to our lives.

“Honeybees are driven to pollinate, gather nectar, and condense the nectar into honey. It is their magnificent obsession imprinted into their genetic makeup by our Creator. It is estimated that to produce just one pound (0.45 kg) of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon.

Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part.”

The beehive has always been an important symbol in our Church history. Brigham Young chose the beehive as a symbol to encourage and inspire the cooperative energy necessary among the pioneers to transform the barren desert wasteland surrounding the Great Salt Lake into the fertile valleys we have today. We are the beneficiaries of their collective vision and industry.

The beehive symbol is found in both the interiors and exteriors of many of our temples.

All of this symbolism attests to one fact: great things are brought about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many hands “anxiously engaged in a good cause” (D&C 58:27).   You can read the entire talk HERE.

I grabbed my camera and watched the bee’s buzzing around my lavender.  They will be here all summer.   I snapped several shots of the busy little things as they fulled their need to gather nectar to take to the hive.

_MG_1387_edited-2

 

Enjoy!

 

Photobucket
Pin It!

Thursday, June 19

Brush Strokes

I had the desire to get out my brushes a couple of weeks ago.   While out and about last winter, while checking out the holiday bazaars, we saw this cute wood cut out of  the word LOVE that we thought would be so cute for my granddaughters bedroom.  I bought some cute valentines paper while it was in season.

  I finally have the wood letters and decided to get painting.   

_MG_1334_edited-1

I painted the edges with  Decoart American – Dragon Fruit.  I love the brightness of it and it matches the paper perfectly.  The pictures do not do this justice.  I had a hard time getting some good photo’s while this was hanging on my wall.

I traced the wood letter onto the paper, hand cut them out then attached with mod podge. When that was dry, I put a couple of coats over the entire piece.  I like using the matte finish of the mod podge. 

_MG_1335

I attached together with some bright pink gingham ribbon and added a wire on top to finish it.

_MG_1336_edited-1

Isn’t it cute? The finished piece is about 24 inches tall.

_MG_1338_edited-1

I also painted this summery flower hang up.

 _MG_1356_edited-1 _MG_1357_edited-1 _MG_1358_edited-1 _MG_1359_edited-1 _MG_1360_edited-1

And just in time for Flag day, I finished this American sign.  The lettering is white vinyl.

 _MG_1362_edited-1 _MG_1363_edited-1 _MG_1361_edited-1

What should I paint next?   I’m thinking watermelon!

Saturday is the first day of Summer.  I hope you’re is off to a good start!

Be creative!

 

Photobucket
Pin It!

Sunday, June 15

Busy Hands

I made a few cards the last couple of weeks.   I didn’t get out my good camera and take any pictures.  (what was I thinking?)      I did snap a few for instagram as I was creating.   This will give you an idea of what I created.

IMG_20140531_171018 IMG_20140531_184412 IMG_20140531_191826 IMG_20140606_213416

Products used:  Verve: Being Awesome. CTMH: Outdoor Denim. October Afternoon: Campfire. Washi tape. Vellum. Button. Twine. Sewing tool. Distress ink: Vintage photo.

Basic Gray: PB&J.  CTMH: Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim. SU: Banner Blast, Banner punch, Yippee Skipee.  Vellum. Arrow punch. Bakers twine. Sewing tool. Distress ink: Vintage photo.

SU: Happy Watercolor, Chevron ribbon. CTMH: Sorbet, Cashmere. MFT: Blissful Butterflies. Sequins. Distress ink: Vintage photo. Sewing tool.

Echo Park: Sweet Girl. MFT: Something Special Just for You. Copic Markers. Red cs. Distress ink: vintage photo.  Pen touch: white.  CTMH: Z1768 Gold metalic marker, Holiday Red. Washi tape.  Spellbinder labels 10. Button. Twine.

CTMH: White Daisy ink, Outdoor Denim, Twilight.  MFT: Distressed Diamonds, Blissful Butterflies, Dienamics – Blissfull butterflies. Washi tape. Distress ink: Vintage photo. White embossing powder.

 

IMG_20140610_143711

 

Be Creative!!

 

Photobucket
Pin It!

Sunday, June 8

M4H P52: 23/52

My flower gardens are filling in nicely.  The peonies are in full bloom (actually their about done.)   My lavender is starting to bloom and it smells so good.  Originally I planted two plants.  Each fall they go to seed and my beds are filling in with more plants.   I took a photo with my 100mm macro lens to get some nice bokeh of this shot.

This weeks word:  BLUR

_MG_1293_edited-1

 

Be Creative!

 

Photobucket
Pin It!