SALT Challenge - Honor and Respect

It's time for another SALT challenge! This week it was Stacy's turn to pick the challenge and she picked a verse from Romans, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." She also has a great write up on honor and respect on the SALT blog. I chose to work with a portion of Romans 13:1, "let every soul be subject..." This section of Romans (vs. 1-7) focuses on Christians and civil government. Although this might seem like a difficult challenge, we know that all Scripture is given for our benefit so what can we glean from this portion? I'm going to take the easy way out and share some notes from my study Bible: Civil government is a means ordained by God for ruling and maintaining order in communities. It is one of a number of such means, including ministers in the church and parents in the home. Each such means has its own sphere of authority under Christ and the limits of each sphere are set by reference to the others. In our fallen world these authorities are institutions of God's kindly providence, standing as a bulwark against anarchy and the dissolution of ordered society. Because civil government exists for the welfare of the whole society, God gives it the "power of the sword," the lawful use of force to administer just laws. Christians must acknowledge this as part of God's order. However, if it forbids what God requires or requires what God forbids, Christians cannot submit, and some form of civil disobedience becomes inescapable. (For example, if government forbids the worship of God. As a Christian, we would be compelled to "disobey" this government imposed law, since this would be an overstepping of their God-given role in society). Christians should urge governments to fulfill their proper role. They are to pray for, obey, and yet watch over civil governments reminding them that God ordained them to rule, protect, and keep order. The verse I used is a reminder that every soul is subject to God, no matter how powerful their position. The second part of vs. 1 states that "there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." If anyone in authority abuses their power or those under them they risk judgement from the same God that appointed them to their position. That judgement may not come in this lifetime but it will most certainly come in the next. "...for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord." This is a serious warning and should give everyone with authority over others a reason to soberly consider their own actions. God will hold that person accountable, not just for how they ruled, but also for how they treated those under them. Likewise, we may not always be happy about certain ruling authorities, however, we are still required to pray for them, and to show them respect, trusting that God is in control. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good." -Proverbs 15:3 For my ATC, I decided to channel Tim Holtz because...well....I love Tim Holtz...*smile* The idea for today's art was taken from his new book. I used a number of his new sets, along with a grunge paper swirl, cut using one of his new dies. (Yes, I've been doing just a bit of shopping at Wholly Scrap!!) The sweet little butterfly is from a Gina K stamp set, A Beautiful Life. Be sure to stop by the SALT blog to check out the amazing work posted by our design team...they outdid themselves this week!! And don't forget that if you're inspired to create something based on this week's theme, that you can leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd love to see what you come up with! Enjoy!

Reflection Technique

You know it's been a busy week when you're searching through your photos to find something to post on your blog that hasn't already been posted! Whew!! I feel like I've been running at top speed all week and I haven't managed to sit down to create anything in days! However, I did manage to find this lovely little creation that I made months ago when I had toyed with holding a landscape-themed class at Wholly Scrap. (Note to self - get that class scheduled!) This landscape was created following a Michelle Zindorf tutorial. If you've never been to her site you must check it out! Michelle is an extremely talented artist and she's been sweet enough to share tutorials on how to recreate her techniques on your own. She provided detailed instructions and photos. And as difficult as some of the cards look, the techniques are easy to follow and duplicate. The only change for me? Michelle is the queen of the brayer and honestly, I can never get my brayering to look like hers so I just use sponges for my coloring. This look was created by first sponging color onto the top of the card, using an ink pad and the direct to paper technique (behind the trees) to create a kind of forest look, and a piece of paper to create the line between the sky, water, and tree line. The trees, from Gina K set, were stamped in black over the skyline. I then set to work on the water section by covering the entire tree/sky area first. Color was sponged on and then the trees were stamped again but in a pale gray color so it looks like a reflection. Here's something else that Michelle does that panicked me the first time I did it...she adds black ink to the card edges. It seems so dark at first but after you get all the black on the edges, it's beautiful! The dark edge makes the entire piece pop! I finished by using a white gel pen to create movement in the water. A sentiment was also added on top of the water. Hop on over to Michelle's blog and check out all of her awesome work!! Enjoy (I hope to be back tomorrow with some more photos from my Week in the Life project!!)

Gina K Designs & Stamping Around Recap

Have I mentioned that we had an amazing time at the Stamping Around event this past weekend, hosted by Wholly Scrap? What a great time spent catching up with old friends, making new ones, and creating during five fantastic classes! A few folks have posted about the event, you can check out the posts here: Cindy Lawrence Julia Aston Donna-Marie (Donna-Marie has a great list of posts about the event!!) Monika Davis Have I told you what fantastic sponsors we have for each event!! We were thrilled to offer prizes from the following companies, Waltzingmouse, Just Rite, Wholly Scrap, Unity, Sweet 'n Sassy, Papertreyink, Bells & Whistles, Taylored Expressions, Our Craft Lounge, My Time Made Easy, and more (forgive me if I missed anyone!!) If you're looking for high quality craft products, please visit our sponsors and show 'em some retail love! And have I told you about our ubber fabulous event suppliers? eclectic Paperie has been a long standing supporter, providing us with extra inks, stamp cleaners, Copic markers, and all kinds of wonderful products for each of our events. And...Gina K generously donates all of the cardstock for the instructors projects! How wonderful is that?? If you've never tried Gina's cardstock, I urge you to purchase your own pack NOW! :-) The quality of the paper is amazing, the colors are vibrant and rich, and cost is spot on. I used her paper to create the punched out butterfly on today's card...Isn't the color divine?

Not only are Gina's papers amazing but her stamp sets are to die for!! I confess that I only have one Gina K set in my collection and I've only used it once...a long time ago. The release this past month contained a number of wonderful sets and I just had to pick up a few! The one on today's card is called A Beautiful Life, isn't it..well...beautiful!! The set contains this amazing floral frame image along with all kinds of words that can be mixed and matched to create custom sentiments. The other set I purchased is Organize It and I have a wonderful little project in mind for this stamp set...Now for the time to create it!! (I have to say that the rubber quality on these stamps is amazing!!) As for the creation of my Mother's Day card...I stamped and embossed the floral frame image. The flowers are colored with Copics. I then used an exacto knife to cut out the inside portion of the frame to make room for my sentiment. And then...I just had to add some design to the outside of the frame but there was no way to run the entire piece through my Cuttlebug without ruining the flowers. The solution? I used the embossing head of my Crop-a-Dile to create little raised polka dots. Fun, huh? I then stamped my sentiment on a piece of vellum and mounted it onto a piece of DP before using foam tape to attach the piece to the back of the card base. My Martha Stewart butterfly finished off the card! Now head on over to Gina K and our other sponsors and get shopping!! What better way to spend a morning!! :-) And a HUGE thank you to all of our suppliers, sponsors, and teachers who participated in this weekend's stamping event!! Enjoy!