Friday, December 23, 2011

Joy! It might be closer than you think.


On Tuesday of this week, I woke up to a grey, drizzly, foggy day. My husband, a long haul truck driver, had been gone for 4 weeks. I woke up just feeling sad and sorry for myself. Happy and Joyful were not words to describe me as I was driving my youngest to school so that he could be there by 7:00 a.m. for a science club meeting.The rain was coming down and I had the windshield wipers on as I was driving around the corner of my house. A little blue bird who had been sitting on the road flew up right by my window as I drove by. The thought that struck me as I saw him, was I had almost missed seeing this little bird who was right in front of me because I was distracted by the rain and my own thoughts. Sometimes Joy is like that little blue bird. It is there in front of me, but I don't see it because I let other, unimportant things distract me. The scripture that I used on this card is one of my favorites. I have it on my bulletin board to remind me that joy is coming if I don't feel it now. I experimented on the background. I printed the sheetmusic on tissue paper, by taping the tissue paper to a piece of printer paper, and running it through the printer. I then ink spray smashed the tissue paper. I then crinkled the tissue paper up and glued it to a piece of cardstock. It is hard to see in the photo, but there is a crinkly texture.I then printed the verse and ink spray smashed it as well as a scrap of lace. The little bird is a Mark's Finest Papers bird. I think he is a chickadee on pussy willows. But for my card he is a little blue bird on a branch with leaves. I stamped the pussy willows twice to add some depth. Some are glued straight to the tissue and some are curved and not attached to the background. It is also hard to see, but the scripture strips are also curved. The center parts are up about 1/4 of an inch and are only touching at the ends. I am sharing this card with Word Art Wednesday.

Merry Christmas to everyone! I pray that you have a wonderful blessed day celebrating our Savior's birth!



5 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful, MariLynn...I love chickadees, so I will just settle for that instead of a bluebird! I am glad the Lord surprised you with joy! I sure hope your husband can be there for awhile and you enjoy Christmas together as a family. God bless you, and Merry Christmas!!

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  2. Oh MariLynn! I, too, have treasured this verse during many stormy times in my life. And I must admit I'm in the midst of one of the stormiest right now.....so Thank You for sharing your beautiful card and the story that goes with it!

    Blessings and Peace and Joy to you and your family! 'For unto us a child is born...' Hallelujah!

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  3. Hi MariLynn - Christmas blessings to you and yours - beautiful card and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts - they are so often so true and timely for me.
    Blessings
    Maxine

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  4. This is beautiful! I love the colors, the lace and that pretty ribbon. You are so right about joy, we get so consumed in ourselves and think we will never find it, when it's right in front of us. Thank you for sharing your heart.

    Thank you for sharing this on my challenge blog, Word Art Wednesday. Have a great day and a Merry Christmas!

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  5. This is beautiful. Gorgeous colors.

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