MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY - Obliterate Fear and Guilt

"In your heart, you know exactly what you'd love to do, but the fears and guilt stop you from acknowledging it!" DrDemartini.com

It's human nature.  It's what you were told.  It is what others experienced and your ability to apply the feelings of guilt and fear to yourself.  These feelings are life-suckers.  They love to immobilize you.  These are the lies of the enemy, human or spiritual.  A strong person will fall into its trap every now and then but will rise above it and realize that misery loves company.  Being human is a double-edged sword.  It is about decision, though. You make the decision.  Either fall into the traps of failure or rise above in victory?  Choose to obliterate fear and guilt, now!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!  LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Love you, mean it!!!

THE JARRAH TREE

The Jarrah tree found in Australia, also known as “ironwood” is known to be so dense and hard that the termites hate it.  It is also widely used in construction, for obvious reasons.  It takes skill, strength and determination to build with ironwood.

In life we are often faced with “jarrah” situations.  There are daily challenges that happen where we see no end in sight and sometimes feel that they are impossible tasks to handle.  These situations will seem so big that it hinders our vision to what is behind it.  What is behind it, no matter how enormous is God, the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, deeply personal and all powerful.  The Holy Spirit wants us to use Him, yes, in every jarrah situations that seem impossible to “cut.”

The most important thing is to ask for help as soon as it appears in front of us.  To ignore such challenges is to allow it to grow and develop as sturdy and as hard as a Jarrah Tree.  We are expected to ask for the assistance from the Holy Spirit.  That is what He is there for.  Jesus’ promise to be with us at all times is the Holy Spirit.  Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

Practice asking.  Till my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!  Love you, mean it!

FOODIE FRIDAY - ORANGE MANGO CHICKEN

MANGO ORANGE CHICKEN

8 pieces chicken fryer

½ c. sherry

1 c. mango-orange juice

paprika, salt and pepper to taste rubbing into the chicken parts

olive oil

1 onion, quartered

2 bay leaves

orange zest

1 can chicken broth

Marinade the chicken in mango orange juice, rubbing salt pepper paprika into the fryer parts and keep in marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Do not discard the marinade as we will be using it later

Fry the chicken in the olive oil until brown and almost cooked through.

Take about 6 tbsp from the chicken oil and sauté the onion and bay leaves and zest in another pot until the onion is transparent.  Put in the fried chicken into the pot.

Add the chicken broth, the rest of the marinade, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes or until chicken is done.

Remove the chicken and arrange in a platter.  Strain the broth and return to the pot.  Mix 1 tsp. flour in about 4 tablespoon water and dissolve the flour.  Pour into the mixture and cook until thick.

Serve with rice, mango and orange wedges if desired.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Love you, mean it!

THROWBACK THURSDAY - Tuscan Mural

I am sharing with you a trompe l'oiel mural I painted way back in 2001 in my massage studio in San Jose.  It took me four whole days to finish this. I would sometimes skip meals because of being so engrossed in it.  One day I will do another one.  Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!! Love you, mean it!

ART DAY WEDNESDAY - Humor Me

To be a great artist, you have to have a sense of humor.  Why? Because there are days when your creative juices are tapped out.  There are days when you are excited to create but life gets in the way requiring your attention all day.  It's good to get away from the canvas and paint sometimes.  Give yourself time to replenish, to walk away from it all because it makes for some sweeter artwork when you get back into it.  Trust me... it works!

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!! Love you, mean it.

TIPSY TUESDAY - LOVE DOLLS, OH YEAH!

I love these LOVE dolls.  I'm not going to bog you down with the details.  First, I made a very simple pattern, head, arms, legs and body, just like the photo below.  Then I made 2 sides, front and back. I stitched around with an opening, turned and stuffed it with polyfill.  You can make your own pattern etc.   I then painted the entire doll yellow.

I then printed out some bible verses, highlighted them in different colors then cut them in strips.

After cutting them in strips, I curled them using the finger scissors method, meaning with the strip in between my thumb and scissors and with a little pressure, pull the strip through to make it curl.  Set aside.

Stamp the body with your favorite stamp.  I used my Love verse stamp 1 Corinthians 13.

I then used the strips of curled verses as her her, cut a piece of heart shaped, and in a separate cardboard, stamp a face.  Attach them to the face area to make face.

 Embellish with ribbons, bling, etc.  

Attach a pinback.

Variations

Available on my etsy https://www.etsy.com/listing/120603166/love-is-patient-love-is-kind-doll?

 Till my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!  Love you, mean it!

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY - Creating Displays

Preparing for my bazaar on April 20th, I would like to share with you my display idea for my art pins.  Here they are!  Happy Motivational Monday!

Till my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Love you, mean it!