Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Anything Goes - Weeks #669-670

Welcome back by, friends.  We're so super glad you're here to join us for another FUN challenge.  God has been BLESSING once again, and our Sponsor Calendar for 2025 is FULL.  PRAISE GOD!  We love and appreciate having you play along in our challenges, and it's our greatest hope that our challenges are a blessing and encouragement to you.  Please know that we care about you, about your spiritual condition, and we're here to encourage you if you need us.  We also love seeing your amazing art each week.  Thanks for being here.

The scripture used for our word art during this challenge is 1 Timothy 5:17 and it says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine".  This verse is speaking about elders or pastors - those who are serving and preaching in the church.  The verse tells these people to be counted worthy of double honor.  It's a reminder to them that, because they are in a position of leadership and teaching, they need to be found "worthy" of the calling and position.  Each pastor, or elder, in the church who is supported by their church needs to be sure that they are never becoming lazy or complacent.  In the same fashion, God expect each of us to be found "worthy" of our calling.  We all have a responsibility to serve God, to teach others with the knowledge we have (especially Biblical knowledge), and to always remember that others are watching us.  Our behaviors, good or bad, will affect others.  We will either be a blessing or a hinderance to others; especially those who are less spiritually mature.  Let this be a reminder to each of us to always seek wisdom and to truly care about being worthy of what God has given us.  No matter what your level of spiritual/Biblical maturity is, always be sure to use it for God's glory and to be a blessing in the lives of those we encounter.

As always, you are welcome to save the word art to your computer; but you are never required to use it in order to play along or to win in our challenges.  We welcome you to share all of your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family friendly.  This includes any type of altered or digital art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to five (5) projects each week for a total of ten (10) entries per two-week challenge.  The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and an encouragement to you as we share it.  If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules found under our Page tab marked "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to our guidelines.   Please know that this doesn't mean we are judging anyone.  We're not.  We are simply attempting to honor God and follow His rules.  Please let us know if you have any questions about anything; and thank you for your understanding and participation.
Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
Hurray!!  It's the WONDERFUL Altenew
as our sponsor for this challenge.  We hope
you'll stop by Altenew to check out all their
beautiful Stamps, Dies, Stencils, Inks,
Adhesives, Tools and MUCH more.  We
are so blessed to have their support.  One
lucky participant, by random draw, will
WIN a $25 store credit to spend at the
FABULOUS Altenew.  How AWESOME!


Here's Another Happy WINNER:
Gina K. Designs was our prior sponsor.
If you're not yet familiar with the FUN
things at Gina K. Designs, you'll definitely
want to check out all their amazing products.
They carry wonderful stamps, dies, stencils,
foiling tools, and much more.  The amazing
Owner, Gina, provides lots of fabulous
inspiration each week on social media, and
her talented Design Team has creative ideas
to share for inspiration as well.  We hope you'll
stop by Gina K. Designs to say hello and look
around at all their wonderful crafting products.
One lucky participant, by random draw, has
WON a generous $25 gift card to spend at
Gina K. Designs.  HOW FUN! It's....
Lucky Entry #115 - Esther A.

Our Top 3 Honors Go to Our Friends:
Entry #69 - Lia

Please email Karen if you'd like a
Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.
All winners must also email Karen to
claim prize (per the Rules Page).  Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.
We appreciate them all SO very much.  We
pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing
upon their businesses.  We're SO grateful.
Here's Some Inspiration to get You Started:

You are invited to the Unlink link party!

Click here to enter

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Anything Goes - Weeks #667-668

Welcome back to Word Art Wednesday, everyone.  Sorry for the late start today.  We're so glad you're here to play along with us, and more than anything else; we hope and pray that our challenges will bless and encourage you.  This is a place to share your art and creativity, and it's also a place for you to gain knowledge and to draw close to God.  The great God of this world (and yes, there is ONLY ONE) has so many great things waiting for those who seek Him.  It's our most sincere desire that you will be blessed and encouraged in your walk with God by visiting here.  And of course, it's a place for having fun and sharing the artistic talents that God has given you.  We always enjoy seeing your art; and we appreciate you for sharing it here.

We have another beautiful piece of scriptural word art for this challenge.  This time, the verse is taken from 2 Chronicles 15:7 and it says, "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be rewarded".  These words are part of a speech that was given by Azariah to the people of Judah.  It was spoken as an encouragement; and although it was intended for a specific situation at a very specific time, it's most certainly an important verse that we can apply to our lives today.  Just like the people of this time were experiencing, we have enemies all around us.  We see attacks in our every-day lives.  People are attacking others who look and think differently than they do, people are attacking a United States Presidential candidate, people are attacking anyone and anything that they oppose.  This is SO WRONG, and it needs to STOP.  It's NOT our place to attack, or even to criticize, any person.  This verse, and all of God's beautiful Word, tells us that we aren't to let our hands be weak; and that our work will be rewarded.  So, how do we "make our hands strong"?  First, we (you, me and every human being) need to CONFESS our sin.  Next, we need to TURN from our ugly sinful ways.  And we need to LOOK TO GOD for wisdom and understanding so that we will become wise and grow spiritually.  This is what makes us strong - as individuals, as the body of Christ, as a nation, and just in general.  In and of ourselves, we are weak.  ONLY through submission to God do we become truly strong by surrendering to His perfect teaching.  God promises to make us strong and to reward us.  Regardless of where you stand politically or spiritually, let me simply encourage you with this......SUBMIT TO GOD.  Turn to God and ask Him to teach you, to make you truly wise, to forgive your sins, and to help you live a life that is pleasing to Him.  God promises to make us wise and to bless us.  Most of us want to be wise and blessed, right?  Once we are in submission to God, He will make things clear for us.  PLEASE don't get your information and decision-making criteria from the media.  I urge you to get it straight from God.  This is the ONLY way that you (we) will ever become wise, strong and blessed.  God has great things waiting for those who do seek Him.  For the rest, well.....read the end of The Book.

As always, you are welcome to save the word art to your computer; but you are never required to use it in order to play along or to win in our challenges.  We welcome you to share all of your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family friendly.  This includes any type of altered or digital art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to five (5) projects each week for a total of ten (10) entries per two-week challenge.  The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and an encouragement to you as we share it.  If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules found under our Page tab marked "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to our guidelines.   Please know that this doesn't mean we are judging anyone.  We're not.  We are simply attempting to honor God and follow His rules.  Please let us know if you have any questions about anything; and thank you for your understanding and participation.
Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
Gina K. Designs is our sponsor for this
new challenge.  If you're not yet familiar
with Gina K. Designs, you will definitely
want to check out all their amazing products.
They carry wonderful stamps, dies, stencils,
foiling tools, and much more.  The amazing
Owner, Gina, provides lots of fabulous
inspiration each week on social media, and
her talented Design Team has creative ideas
to share for inspiration as well.  We hope you'll
stop by Gina K. Designs to say hello and look
around at all their wonderful crafting products.
One lucky participant, by random draw, will
WIN a generous $25 gift card to spend at
Gina K. Designs.  HOW FUN!


Here's Our Next LUCKY WINNER:
Awesome Lawn Fawn was our previous
challenge sponsor.  We all know and love
Lawn Fawn products.  They carry such
sweet stamps, dies, papers, stencils and SO
much more.  Lawn Fawn also has a FUN
lots of great ideas on the Lawn Fawn social
media accounts.  You'll absolutely love
everything you find at Lawn Fawn.  One
lucky participant has WON a $25 store credit
to this awesome shop.  Be sure to visit all the
awesome Lawn Fawn goodness.  The winner
of this amazing prize is lucky
Entry #57 - Pamela Duncan

Our Top 3 Honors Go to Our Friends:
Entry #54 - Elisa
Entry #72 - Priya

Please email Karen if you'd like a
Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.
All winners must also email Karen to
claim prize (per the Rules Page).  Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.
We appreciate them all SO very much.  We
pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing
upon their businesses.  We're SO grateful.
Here's Some Inspiration to get You Started:

Our September Guest Designer, Barb Finnical




Using (retired) Autumn Wishes Stamp Set and
Autumn Wishes Dies from Gina K Designs


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Anything Goes - Weeks #665-666

Welcome back to Word Art Wednesday!  It's a big blessing to have you play along with us.  Our challenges wouldn't be anything without you.  The cards and projects you link up in our gallery are SO amazing and so very much appreciated.  Even if we don't get by your blog, etc. to leave a comment every time, we want you to know that we truly enjoy your art and appreciate you.  We have another awesome challenge waiting for you, so let's jump right it with all the FUN.

The Bible verse in focus for this challenge is 1 Samuel 12:24 which says, "Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you".  Let's be really honest with each other here.  We ALL have times in our lives when we get busy, start to focus on what's directly in front of us; and we tend to forget about communicating with God and serving Him with all our ability.  Just like any good friend, God truly misses us when we don't speak with Him.  Not only does He miss us, but we miss out on His sweet fellowship, guidance and blessings.  It's SO important to STOP and remember ALL that God has done for us.  Yes, life gets busy.  However, we are never so busy that we shouldn't be giving God all the time and service due Him.  This verse reminds us to SERVE the Lord with ALL our heart as we reflect on ALL that He has done for us.  I'll absolutely include myself in this....let's each and every one of us make a conscious effort, starting right now, to purpose in our heart how we can serve Him more, praise Him more, submit to Him more, and know Him more.  God has done SO MUCH for us.  Today is a great time to just tell Him, "Thank you, LORD, and help me to remember that I must allow you to work in my life as I serve and honor You so that I will continue to know all the rich blessings you have for my life".  PRAISE GOD for all He has done. 

As always, you are welcome to save the word art to your computer; but you are never required to use it in order to play along or to win in our challenges.  We welcome you to share all of your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family friendly.  This includes any type of altered or digital art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to five (5) projects each week for a total of ten (10) entries per two-week challenge.  The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and an encouragement to you as we share it.  If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules found under our Page tab marked "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to our guidelines.   Please know that this doesn't mean we are judging anyone.  We're not.  We are simply attempting to honor God and follow His rules.  Please let us know if you have any questions about anything; and thank you for your understanding and participation.
Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
YES, Please!  The super sweet Lawn Fawn is
our sponsor for this challenge.  We all know and
LOVE Lawn Fawn products.  They carry such
sweet stamps, dies, papers, stencils and SO
much more.  Lawn Fawn also has a FUN
lots of great ideas on the Lawn Fawn social
media accounts.  You'll absolutely LOVE
everything you find at Lawn Fawn.  One very
lucky participant will WIN a $25 store credit
to this awesome shop.  Be sure to visit all the
awesome Lawn Fawn goodness.  You won't
want to miss a thing.  HOW FUN!


OH, and....Another LUCKY WINNER:
Seth Apter Designs generously sponsored
our previous challenge.  This very COOL
store, Seth Apter Designs, carries the most
AMAZING products including EVERYTHING
Mixed Media in the way of stamps, stencils,
paints, inks and SO much more.  If you are an
artist who enjoys the "edgy" grungy mixed media
style art, you will quickly fall in LOVE with
Seth Apter Designs.  Because this prize was not
claimed by the winner back in February, one
lucky person has WON a VERY GENEROUS
$50 credit to spend at Seth Apter Designs.  WOW!
Please take a minute to stop by this AWESOME
store to see all the fabulous products they carry and
to thank Seth for his support of our challenges.
Our very fortunate winner of this FAB prize
goes to Entry #104 - Birgit Norton

Our Top 3 Honors Go to Our Friends:
Entry #35 - Eve

Please email Karen if you'd like a
Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.
All winners must also email Karen to
claim prize (per the Rules Page).  Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.
We appreciate them all SO very much.  We
pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing
upon their businesses.  We're SO grateful.
Here's Some Inspiration to get You Started:

From the Lawn Fawn Design Team, Here's

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter