Tuesday 29 September 2015

Catching Up

During July and August, Roger and I went away for a few days several times.  I've realised that I haven't shared the photos from these trips and I know that several of you - usually American friends and followers - enjoy seeing the British countryside.

Our first jaunt was to Llanidloes in mid-Wales.  It's one of those places we've never been to - the sort you see on a signpost and never quite make it there.  Originally I was going to a 3 day workshop there but this was cancelled.  Undaunted Roger and I took the opportunity to drive about the area.

On our way we spotted these abbey ruins.

This is the hotel we stayed in.  Although to be honest it was run like a guest house!

The market place in Llanidloes.

The river running through Llanidloes.

The countryside around Llanidloes.


We went for a walk and I spotted these shapes in the logs.


There were some gentle waterfalls

We spotted these guys.  We thought they were toys until they moved!

A larger waterfall

One of the reservoir dams in the Elan Valley

And on the way home we went to Eastnor Castle.  I've wanted to visit for a long time but it was always closed on the days we happened to be going past.


I hope you've enjoyed a look around mid-Wales.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Sunday 27 September 2015

ReWind

At His Kingdom Come we decided that for Take Me Deeper each week in October and November, we would condense the monthly topics from January to September into a weekly devotion with a list of all the videos and Go Deeper study prompts. There are reflection questions for those people who have joined since January. For those who have been on the journey with us since the beginning there are rewind questions for people to spend a little more time on the topic or on a different aspect of the study.

So to introduce ReWind I have made a flipthrough video of the finished pages in my journal since we began in January.


It isn't too late to start Take Me Deeper 2015

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice



Friday 25 September 2015

TMD: Promises 4

This week's Promise theme is the promise from Jesus that God will send his Holy Spirit.  We tend to think of the dove as a symbol for the Holy Spirit.

For my last week's pages on Promises I did a totally different background.  I had dried off the stencil from last week's page onto this page.  And then I took the dove stencil from His Kingdom Come and put clear gesso through it.  You could put any transparent acrylic medium.

I found 7 Ranger re-inkers that almost match the colours of the rainbow and dropped some of each colour at the top of the page, sprayed water onto the ink and held the book upright so that the ink dripped down the page.  When it was nearly dry I removed some of the ink off the clear gesso with a wet wipe.

I printed out the verses I wanted to use and coloured the paper with Distress Inks.  I cut up the verses and glued them to my page.

I drew a border round the page with a black pen.

I used the rainbow colours because the rainbow is a sign of another promise from God in Genesis 9: "And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Thank you for stopping by.
Bernice


Wednesday 23 September 2015

And finally TMD for April

I have finally, FINALLY, caught up with all my missing Take Me Deeper pages.  The first week of April was actually in with the March prompts because of where Easter Sunday fell in the calendar and I blogged about it here.

I started by gathering up all the 6x6" stencils I have that are like sun rays or bursts of water to represent the living water.  Our theme for April was The Resurrection Life.  I did the backgrounds for the pages of all 3 weeks.



On the first page I sprayed through another stencil and then tried out some Ranger Transparent Texture Paste.  It's like heat embossing without the fuss of the powder and the heat gun.  Can you see the flower with the ink showing through?

The stencil I used had freedom in it so I used the Texture paste there and then when it was dry I coloured the word with a black aquarelle pencil.  I used the pencil to write 'a new creation' and then went over it with water.

I drew lines and then wrote verses around each square.

This page became overly fussy once I had sprayed the pomegranate ink through the butterfly stencil.  It certainly isn't a favourite page.

After I stamped the heart I used a wet wipe to wet the ink on the page and spread it inside the heart.  Then I used the aquarelle pencil to write the words.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice




Tuesday 22 September 2015

My final selection

Today is the end of the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt hosted by Rinda.  I have shared my finds on other blog posts but today here they are altogether.



In previous years I've tried to get the whole list including the alternatives but this year I just didn't manage #18 or Alt. C.

Do go over to Rinda's blog where you will find links to other people's collections of photos.  It is really interesting to see how other people interpret the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Saturday 19 September 2015

TMD: Promises 3

I did three of the four backgrounds for my pages this month a few weeks ago and I blogged about them here.

The theme for this month is Promises and in particular this week the promises that God has made us that if we ask for wisdom he will give it to us.

I used the Thermofax screen that was made for my Altered Book class - The Promised Land.  This is the palm branch.  I had stamped the bell and the pomegranate from the stamp set.  Details of the purple and gold are on my previous post.

When I came back to the pages I still thought they were too red so I sprayed the whole page with the Dylusions White Linen Ink.

I have a set of stamps that look like machine stitching so I used three of them to put the border around the page using black Archival ink.

Then I used various letters from my scrapbooking stash to add the verse from James 1.  I wrote the verses from Exodus 31 around the inside of the border. "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills - to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts."

The bells and the pomegranates relate to the robes that were to be made for Aaron's priestly robe described in Exodus 28: "Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them.  The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe."

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Friday 18 September 2015

Take Me Deeper June

I showed you how I made backgrounds for my June Take Me Deeper journal pages.

The theme for June was Family.

Week 1: Why family?
As you know I don't usually put people on my pages but I was very taken with the quote from Kurt Bruner: "We know artists by their most important creations."  It seemed to me that my most important creations were my son Andy and my marriage to Roger so how could I not include this photo!  The beginning of our new family.

Week 2: The Trinity - Our model for family

Week 3: A Father's Love
I downloaded the Father's Love Letter from the internet and stuck it onto my page.  I blended two colours of Distress Ink to make it look part of the page.

Week 4: The Family of God
I printed out the logo of my church because Jubilee is my family.  In June I wrote a poem called Jubilee Jubilate about the 5 culture words of the church - honour, courage, authenticity, passion and family.  This is the family verse.  My friend Bernadette made the digital background for me.

I'm almost caught up with my journal now.  Just 3 weeks of April and then I'll be ready for October's prompts.  I've actually already done all of September.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Thursday 17 September 2015

TMD backgrounds for June

As I mentioned there was a bit of a hiatus through April, May and June in my Take Me Deeper Journal.

For my June pages I decided to take inspiration from Diane's video Stencil, Spray & Stamp.  Rather than tear the pages to make 3 sections I made 4 sections.

I sprayed through the stencil as Diane instructed but then I turned the stencil over and pressed it onto the left hand page.

The pages look like this as you go through my journal.



Then I stamped through the stencil on the individual pages.  Closed they look like this.

Then I went back to each page and coloured the remainder of the page with Distress Ink.




Now everything is ready for the journaling or verses - whatever I choose to do.  Come back tomorrow to see what I did.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Tuesday 15 September 2015

Take Me Deeper for May

There was a bit of a gap in my Take Me Deeper journal.  I missed 3 weeks of April, and all of May and June.   I thought I would go back and have a bit of a catch up.

May's theme was Sanctuary.  I had done the backgrounds for the pages and blogged about it here.  So using those backgrounds here are my finished pages.

May week 1: Sustainable Living


May week 2: Dwelling in God's Presence

Week 3: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made


Week 4: Rhythms of Grace pt 1
This background was so busy and so black and I was thinking of painting over it but then I found this quote which is actually from Mary's prompt for Week 5 but I thought that the background was so restless and indicated the need for rest.

Week 5: Rhythms of Grace pt 2
Mary's prompt was about living water but my thoughts led to abiding in the vine.

I'm working on the missing pages from June next.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice