Let's Hear It For The Boy

For Challenge #20, Einat has brought us a new kind of challenge this month at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  The challenge is to focus on a special male in our life.  She reminds us about the covenant that God made with Abraham the day a lamb was sent to be sacrificed in place of Abraham's son Issac.

When I read her challenge I immediately thought of my nephew Jayden.  My brother and his wife have the cutest brown boy I've ever seen.  The kid is such a character.  He loves to tease, and play around, and climb all over my hubby.  He's quite the dancer, loves anything Spiderman, and is a little jokester to boot.  He's one of the most loving little boys I know.  When he leaves his day care, he cannot walk out the door without personally saying goodbye and delivering a hug to each child there.

Then men in my family have not done much to leave a stellar legacy for future generations.  Ephesians 6:4 reads "Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master."  Whether it was because they, themselves have always had poor role models, or because they just had no idea how and where to start, or simply because they just didn't care, I do not know.  All I know is that Ephesians 6:4 did not ring true within the walls of my home.  My brother and I were subjected to awful rants by my father, often accompanied by a swift and rough hand to the behind.

It is only by the grace of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, that my brother and I are the people we are today.  My brother especially.  He grew into a kind, loving, gentle man, who leads his son with a kind, loving, and gentle hand.  He is raising Jayden in a way that affirms this little boy's value in Christ.  Jayden will have a hard time questioning his worth as a person, a chosen, and wonderfully created child of God, gifted to his parents.  With that kind of knowledge this young man will have the power to break this generational curse of ours.  He will have the strength and the wisdom, and the humility to rise up and re-write the pages of the Wesley book for future generations.  

Written on this hidden journaling card is Malachi 4:6 "He (Elijah) will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents."

I am honoured to be his Aunt.  I cherish the gift that I have, to come alongside him, and his parents as a reminder of what a gift he is to all of us, and of God's great and amazing, all encompassing, never failing love for all mankind.  A love that He demonstrated so boldly in giving up His son Jesus to die for each one of us.  Rather than a life doomed to eternal loss, we have been giving the opportunity to live in eternity with our Heavenly Father.  There is no denying the presence of God for me.  No denying the power of the Holy Spirit when I look at myself in the mirror, or when I look at my brother, and especially when I consider the possibility of restoration that Jayden could bring to the Wesley name for future generations.

To see what men the rest of the DT chose to lift up please pop over to Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  There, you will also see the scrap twist for the month, as well as get the details on our gracious sponsor and the prize up for grabs.

Have a wonderful Monday friends,

♥ S.

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Lifting Up

Happy May 1st everyone!

My Scrapbook Nook hosted a 'lift the person above you' challenge.  It's a fun way to experiment with different styles.  I had the pleasure of lifting Jennie.  After browsing through her gallery, I chose this layout to work with.

I really like her clean and simple style.  But, man did I ever have a hard time replicating it.  Here's what I created with her layout as inspiration.

Using Studio Calico, Ormolu, OA, and Basic Grey products

The girls often come out their rooms wearing the same colour combination/style of outfit.  It cracks me up, because people use to mistake them for twins all the time, and sometimes it looks  like nothing has really changed over the past 6 years.  They still look very much alike, are still almost the same size/weight, and they are even drawn to the same colours and style of clothing.

I couldn't keep from adding my bits and pieces to the layout. 

Some of the ladies really knocked it out of the park with this challenge.  I encourage you to pop over here to have a look for yourself.

That's it for me today, hoping to have some Week In The Life photos to share with you really soon. 

Thanks for stopping by friends!

♥ S.

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Painting

I have a few scrappy online friends who love to use paint in their projects. They do such a fabulous job, that I was inspired to get myself some paint of my own around Christmastime.  I've made a few meager attempts to use it, but not to the extent these talented ladies do.  Well I finally got around to it.  A Member Inspiration Challenge over at My Scrapbook Nook opened the door for me.  The challenge was to life this layout by the sweet, and uber  talented Zarah.  I was excited, yet nervous to dig in and get a little messy with my white paint, and stamps.

Using Pink Paislee Prairie Hill Collection

The final product is not exactly as I had hoped, but I can now say I've actually used something a little more exciting on a layout.  I still think the Ormolu tag should be tucked further behind the photo, but it's so cute I want it to show.  Originally the title was on that tag in a yellow font, but it just didn't look right so I removed it and went with this look instead.  Even though it's not exactly as I had envisioned, I think I'll leave it.  Do you ever go back and re-do layots?  I am anxious to give painting another go though, I have another idea I want to try out.

On another note the April issue of Scrap Street Magazine is out.  I had the privilege being asked by one of the writers(who also happens to be one of my scrappy heroes) to create a layout  that documented one of the ways I re-energize myself.  The focus of the article was Spring, focusing on how it is a time of re-birth, and rejuvenation.  The first thing that came to mind was having one-on-one time with some of my closest friends.  I went on the hunt for photos, pulled out some fun, and colourful Studio Calico Memoir papers, and Amy Tangerine goodies, and went to work.  Here is the magazine page where my layout is featured (sorry I'm not actually allowed to post it anywhere until next month).  All the journaling is hidden on a tag, tucked behind the envelope,  it's pretty lengthy, so I'll leave it for when I can share the layout here.  I hope you'll pop over and have a look.  It is officially my new favorite layout.   Some of my fave people, bright and cheery, layered  all over, with fun little bits sprinkled around, and mist...love!  If you take the time to go back a page in the magazine you'll see another super talented scrappy hero of mine, who also happens to be from Winnipeg, and who I had the delight of meeting for the first time last week.

I hope this finds you in the middle of a great week friends.  Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by, and especially for your sweet and encouraging comments.

♥ Sherri


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