Solace

My greatest solace comes from God. My faith in His abundant grace and mercy, His love and goodness towards His creation, His justice, is firm and unwavering.

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Having said that, I am sad. Not just sad-cos-I didn't-get-what-I-want-type-sad. Sad because one of my very best friends has left this world cursed by sin and has gone to be with the Lord. Sad for her husband and family. Sad for her friends. Today - sad for myself.

Words elude me - the words that Kim and I played with together, shared a love of, edited and elaborated - they are all hiding in the recesses of my mind refusing to come out and express how I feel. So I am turning to unspoken prayer and mixed media.

I started this "piece" before Kim left her earthly abode and I almost wasn't going to finish it. But it reminds me of Kim - just a bit. The fabric that I used as the background actually came from Kim - she was having a clean-out and offered me a whole pile of upholstery samples. I just couldn't let them go (this is like 4 years ago!) so I hid them away, every so often wondering if I should just chuck them.

It just so happens that the mixed media challenge at Blue Bazaar for this month is fabric.

Here's my rendition.



I have digitally added the black edge for now but it is my intention to sew some kind of black edge to it - just need to get the black stuff.

Here's a close-up.


Products: Upholstery fabric from a sample book; feather wool that Sophie-Lee knitted (well, sort of) into a shawl but she didn't want it and I couldn't throw it away!; Hand dyed silk fibres from Vivian Bonder - love those colours; foam protective net from a custard apple - my fave fruit; K&Company fabric brad with a foil chocolate wrapper arranged underneath it; brads of various brands - I'm pretty sure there are some Basic Grey ones; KaiserCraft Rhinestones; Reeves gold paint; and some thread that was Mum's and we've had "forever".

Psalm 23 and a layout

I'm back! A bit.

I've had a little bit of creativity to alleviate the drought (my drought).

Every so often a scripture pops into my head, often in song, and I start pondering the things of God. The other day it was Psalm 23 - a well known Psalm so full of comfort and praise. I know lots of songs with The Lord is my shepherd as the theme so after I had hummed my way through them I got down to meditating on the the meatier bits... the valley of the shadow of death, rod and staff they comfort me.

Then my creative juices starting flowing (just a little bit) as I was unpacking my scrapbooking stuff. So in amongst the mess of moving I started pulling out bits of patterned paper and cardstock. I decided to do a layout inspired by Psalm 23.

My starting point was a layout that I did in a class with Loretta Grayson - I love her layering of papers and other bits and pieces - keeping the green pastures and the sheep in mind. Even though I had taken only a cursory look at the Aussie Scrap Source blog there was a sun that made an impact on me. There may have been another sun somewhere else too, but I can't remember where it might have been.

So without further ado...


There is not a day goes past that I don't think of my dear friend Kim. This is for her.

My Dearest Kimbo,
If I could take the length and breadth
and depth of all the beautiful words and meanings
I could find, then they are all in these simple words...
My love and prayers are with you.
Blessings from your Pud xx

Products: Bazzill; Love Elsie; Creative Imaginations: Alison Ellis Designs: KaiserCraft; Doodlebug Designs; Scrapware Karen Day Designs; KaiserCraft Rhinestones; Gold Folk Art paint; Uniball Gel Impact; Sequins;