SWEET SWEET RETRO CANDY JAR MADE OF PAPER CLAY

Hey-LO!  This paper clay candy jar was masterminded by moi jeez I guess a year or two ago, just sat sadly plainly on my shelf all this time.  I knew I wanted to do something cute but had no clue until the other day while watching my 49ers win again.  I hope it inspires you to do something so random but utilitarian at the same time, cute!

It started with a plastic container from the store, you know the kind the peanut brittle or cookies come in from Costco.  I actually had to handcraft a lid for it using a styrofoam ball for a handle (check out the Youtube video click here http://youtu.be/n1Gm207-rtA)  Then I let it dry for 2 years, LOL!!! I crack myself up!

Then I drew some random drawing after applying a coat of gesso and began painting away.  I chose the retro style colors and whimsy because it's fun!

Until my next rant/project... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

THE VINEYARD - FINALLY!!! (Again, I digress)

I don't know what I was thinking when I started this painting/texture art in 2009 (LOL!).  There is so much detail in this artwork that I would practically get burned out doing it, stop for months, come back to it, get burned again, and so on.

Finally, today it is finished.  This will stay in my studio forever!  I will create a workshop to teach the technique to create this.  POSSIBLY encase it in resin to give that further shock value. :)

So sharing with you the result of my blood, sweat and tears.  Here is the finished VINEYARD. 

Till my next rant....LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!

PART 4 - LASTING LOVE - BANISH BITTERNESS

     
Don’t be bitter.  Be the better half not be the bitter half.  Learn that there are no problems too big to solve, just people too small to solve them if we just stop bitterness and attack the problem rather than one another.  For example, it may be an insignificant small thing like a splinter.  If you don’t bother to remove it right away, three days later you wake up with a throbbing pain, it's infected.  Those little things that bring infection into your life.  Banish bitterness.  Don’t go to bed back to back, angry, don’t let the sun go down upon your wrath.  Don’t be getting back at each another.

The key is understanding.  No one is perfect, not even you.  It's difficult enough to live with yourself, let alone another person for the rest of you life.  I once asked an old married couple what their secret was.  The husband said the wife was always right even if she's wrong.  The wife said overlook the little things the husband does.  Pick your battles.  When you are really angry, let some steam off, then let it go.  Pray and ask God to help you choose your words when you finally talk about it later.  This won't be easy, because of our innate need to always be right.  But, what's the alternative?  What are the advantages?  You decide.

Contrary to popular belief, the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence.  The grass is greener where you water it.

Till my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

PART 3 - LASTING LOVE

                Cultivate contentment.  "Abraham in the Bible is very wealthy, just like there are lots of wealthy people who are Godly.  Abraham and his wife, Sarah, did not put their wealth first, they were willing to leave the comfort of their house, their friends, etc. to live in a tent to do whatever God wanted them to do. 

If you want to have a happy marriage, you have to learn to live only with God and each other and just the basic necessities of life like food and clothing.  That’s all you need in order to keep you happy.  Learn contentment.  The bible says in Phillip 4:11,  Whatever state we're in, we are to be content.  The wise man once said to whom little is not enough, nothing is enough."

I have read as well as heard stories of marriages falling apart once the wealth dissipates.  It is better to go through life with someone by your side when tragic situations hit, at the very least you have each other.  They say two heads are better than one.  A solid marriage that is regarded as an unbreakable covenant will survive any tragic situation life presents to them.  When two people are each other's rocks, they sit strong through any turmoil.  It is admirable to realize that such unions exist all around us and we all strive to attain it for ourselves.  It takes two like (sometimes unlike) minds and hearts to mesh together to create such a bond, but when it happens, it is magical.  Marriage is 90% work and 10% love, in the beginning.  However, I believe that the longer the marriage lasts, the scales start to tip the other way, and at the end, love prevails victoriously. 

There are some people who get married for the wrong reasons, or for reasons they thought was a good and then later throw the marriage out when reality bites.  No matter how you slice it, the end result is the same.  Better to make certain before you take the plunge if the person you are planning to marry is the one you want to be with forever, because forever is a mighty long time.

Until the next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!

Oh boy!  I was craving for some sweet and tangy treat today, but knowing how much I dread the indecision and the fact that there's nothing about driving to the store just to give into the craving sounded enticing to me.  I thought about the sweet cherries that I had frozen from last April at the Oakley cherry orchards

and decided to make these fabuloso cherry chocolate chip cookies!!!  Look at the delectable treat below!  I'm misting you... you can do this!  Enjoy!

1 c. dried cherries

1/3 c. hot water

6 tbsp. shortening

6 tbsp. butter, softened

1 ½ c packed brown sugar

½ c. sugar

2 eggs

3 tsp. grated orange peel

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. quick cooking oats

¾ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

1 c. semisweet chocolate chip cookies

In a small bowl, soak cherries in the 1/3 c. hot water for 10 min.

(I didn't have to soak mine because I packed the pitted cherries in individual bags so they were still juicy.  The container above was the juice I strained from it.  So I incorporated that into the batter instead of the water from the recipe.  I prefer this way because I had the thawed fresh cherries.  I did chop these after I popped them in the oven to dry them out a little bit more.)

In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, orange peel and vanilla. 

Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add cremed mixture and mix well.  Stir in the chocolate chips and cherries with liquid.

Drop by rounded tsp. 2 in apart onto baking sheets. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes until edges are browned.  Cool for 1 min. before removing from pan. 

Makes 3 ½ dozen

1 cookie = 143 cals -- OMGosh so yummy!  Try not to eat more than one, but if you do, exercise!!! Till my next rant/recipe, LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!

PART TWO - LASTING LOVE

"Let's Ride Life Out Together"



      "REMEMBER YOUR ROLES: A Husband has his, a wife has hers.  What is the role of the wife?  Be in subjection to your own husband.  Husbands and wives are spiritually equal but they are not the same.  God made us different that he may make us one.  It is the devil’s guise to attempt to make men and women alike, under the guise of making them equal. They are equal but they are not alike.  God made the husband with a harder exterior and he made his wife gentle and fragile, he calls her the weaker vessel NOT the inferior vessel.  Steel is stronger than porcelain.  You can drive a spike with a sledge hammer but you can't drink tea out of it, you can drink tea out of a porcelain tea cup.  Silk is more fragile and beautiful than denim but doesn’t mean that denim, although a lot stronger, is intrinsically worth more. 

 

    There are roles God has given the husband, as the headship in the home and we need to understand this.  The wife should be in submission to her own husband, that’s not inferiority.  Submission is one equal voluntarily placing himself under another equal that God may thereby be glorified.  God made us different that it may make us one.  What we need to understand is voluntary submission of a husband as the head of the home, not the boss of the home.  Jesus is the head of the world but NEVER once made me or you do one blessed thing.  Jesus leads by servant love.  Most women don’t mind being in subjection to a man who loves her enough to die for her and shows her that he lives for her.  Headship for the husband doesn’t mean privilege, it means responsibility just like the shepherd is responsible for the sheep and the parent is responsible for the child, the husband has a responsibility before God. 

 

    Marriage is not a contract.  Marriage is a covenant where two people mutually enter together.  When you look at marriage as a contract, you might try to look for ways to break the contract.  When you look at marriage as a contract you think about your rights.  When you look at marriage as a COVENANT, you think about your responsibilities.  So remember your roles."

 

 I struggle with the "submission" concept, just like maybe a lot of wives out there would.  As a woman of today, having experienced single parenthood where biting the bullet and being forced to be strong and alone on a daily basis, it is difficult to give up that strength all of a sudden to a husband.   It will surely take some practice to slowly let it go, and become vulnerable again.  A paradigm shift is necessary and a lot of focusing on God's will, not our own.  I believe we will continue to be tested in this area until we are able to see the beauty it brings into a wholesome, happy life and lasting love.  To some women this comes easy but to others like me, it isn't.  I believe that in the same token, an understanding husband, one who stands behind God, gives up his own life to Him and practices the ideals of the Bible would perhaps make the wife voluntarily submit to him as a the head of the unit. 

 

 I have met men who use this verse for their own egotistical purposes, so be aware.  If it doesn't feel right, then maybe it isn't.  A wife's role is to also guide her husband by example as well as living up to God's standard.  Is it difficult? YES!  Is it worth it? Also, YES.

 

 Again, submission does not equate to enslavement, BIG difference.  Submission is trust, respect and Godliness.

 

    Until Part 3... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!!

PART ONE - LASTING LOVE

What  is the secret of long lasting love?  For sure it is not just about strong physical attraction or sex, but more, a lot more.

This series is based on the words of wisdom by a very Godly and respectable man whom I will reveal at the end of the Lasting Love series blog.  There are seven secrets of lasting love according to this man who has been married for 54 years, both he and his wife devoted to God.  He passed away in 2005.  He states, “The great miracle of love is not love at first sight, but after you’ve taken a long, long look and can continue to love. Keep the honey in the honeymoon, keep the love life alive, and how to keep the love boat afloat.”  It is going to be a consolidation of his wisdom as well as my own insights.

Lasting Love 1:  Fortify faith.  To the wife.  (1Peter 4-5).  It is not the outward appearance that captivates your husband, or anyone else for that matter, the hair extensions, the breast enhancement, the botox etc., instead, it is the unfading beauty of your inner being, the nurturing and gentle spirit who put their faith in God and act according to what pleases Him.  In return, the husband would treat his wife with such respect and appreciation relinquishing the effects of the temporary outer surface, but seeing her as someone worthy of reverence and love that is everlasting.  There's a saying, outer beauty fades, inner beauty lasts forever.

Husband and wife fortify faith by studying the Bible, applying the wisdom then running together in it, encouraging one another and building each other up.  Gaining from your own experiences not from the experiences of other believers, God has different intentions for each of us.  – Rick Warren

Eventually, with God in between a husband and wife,  the bond strengthens, you see no one but each other, become truly as ONE in marriage.  Do you agree?

Until then... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!