Organizational {Friday} Got Words?

Can you believe I am posting an organizational post? I don't have too much to organize anymore thus the lack of posting. I am very pleased with how I have things in my studio though it could use a good, good cleaning!

Anyway, today's topic is about all of those stamped words. Oh my goodness. I have stamp sets from Technique Tuesday, Ali Edwards, Kaleidoscope Creations, Paper Trey Ink, etc. For over a year I have wanted to organize these stamps because I have tons of amazing words that could be used on my Journaling Bible pages, on my Project Life spreads, and other creations. So, this week I decided to tackle this project. Let's take a look.

Stamp Inventory

To begin, I have not redone my Rolodex stamp inventory that I created back in 2010. Click here to see that post. I have only added to that system, and I now have three pink Rolodex's full of my stamp inventory. All scriptures are now on one Rolodex as I have so many scripture stamps. Scriptures are sorted in order of the books of the Bible which makes it super simple to find a scripture stamp. I love this system, and it has worked amazing for me for the last 5 1/2 years. So, organizing all of the clear, stamped words I have is just an extension of that system I created in 2010. The stamp sets are never broken up. Just the individual words are stamped onto a Rolodex card so I can find the stamp quickly and easily.

Clear Stamp Storage

My cling mount stamps are still stored in the Univenture Binders. Again, they work great for me. However, I did not want to store my clear stamps in them. First, I would not have had room for more boxes. Second, I did not want to spend money on more binders. So, I chose to keep all of my clear stamps in the Avery Elle Stamp and Die Storage Pockets. (Note: Links to most products mentioned are at the bottom of this post.)

To start, I cut a piece of Nennah Bright White cardstock to 5 1/2" x 7 1/4". I then type the name of the stamp set and the manufacturer onto the cardstock using my Smith-Corona manual typewriter. This way I do not have to create labels. It's super quick for me to type this onto the cardstock then put the cardstock down into the pocket along with the stamp set. The pockets are stored alphabetically by set name not by manufacturer. The sets are then stored in alphabetical order by set name.

Dividers

I now make my own dividers for my Rolodex using black cardstock and paint chips. You can see the dividers above for my themed stamps, and the dividers below for my word stamps that I have been organizing this week. I use the Heidi Swapp Memorydex 2-Slot punch to punch the black cardstock. It fits my Rolodex perfectly and works much better than the old Rolodex punch I used to use. 

The Cards
Who would have known I had so many "hello" stamps had I not completed this project? And now I know exactly what I have and where to find them quickly. I love color so I chose to stamp the images in different colors. Notice on each card you can see the manufacturer on the left and the set name on the right. Remember these stamps are stored in alphabetical order by set name in my storage box (see below).

Notice that I have two stamps on some of the cards above. If the words were from the same set and they were the same word just different style, I stamped multiple images on the same card.

The Storage Box

I found a great canvas storage box at Lowe's Hardware to store all of my clear storage pockets. I have placed the tag in the photo below so you can see the product information.

Again, I created dividers using black cardstock and paint chips. I also added sari ribbon to the box to add more fun color.

I am so excited to use a lot more of my word stamps now that I have this project complete. It is so wonderful to see all of the amazing words I have on hand, and now I can quickly grab what I want to use.

I hope I have remembered to share everything with you. Feel free to ask questions in the comment section, and I will reply there. I hope you find this post helpful in some way. Happy stamping and organizing!

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Glory {Art} Scripture Challenge #18, Thankful

The Study

Have you ever heard the phrase "30 days of Thankful"? It's something paper crafters, Christians, and others participate in each year around Thanksgiving. But my question is what about "365 days of Thankful"? Do you tend to complain more than being thankful? I began thinking about being thankful earlier this week when I posted on Facebook about an incident that happened at our house when the waste management people pulled into our cul-de-sac to collect the trash. While pulling around, they ran over one of the buckets blocking our newly painted and stained concrete.

My sweet friend and blog reader Jennifer posted "Not pleasant for sure. Thankful it wasn't a hospital stay, though." Her comment was spot on and really hit me. I should have been thankful and looked at the blessings in this incident. God really put it on my heart about being thankful. I told Jennifer she was right and listed the things I was thankful for in this mess—"The guys working on my house were available to help at 7:45 a.m., the city offices were open early and had management here immediately, AND they got it all up (no stain on the concrete). God is good, and thanks for pointing me to the One that gets the glory in all things!" Jennifer made me think that God wants us to look for the things we are thankful for in even a bad or literally a messy situation.

We are a nation and gender of complaining. The Israelites also grumbled and complained. They were complaining to each other instead of going to the Lord. Sounds a bit like us too, doesn't it? The Israelites did everything but pray and offer thanksgiving to Him. And as much as we try to hide our complaining, God sees and hears it. 

Numbers 11:1 "Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."

Numbers 14:27 "How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites."

Proverbs 15:29 "The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous."

I remember acting just like the Israelites at one point in my life too. I can look back now and say "Wow, I was an Israelite in the desert. All I did was complain." Am I proud of that time in my life? No. Do I still complain? Yes, at times. We need to look at everything everyday—even the hard and difficult times—and pray and be thankful. God provided for the Israelites every single day but they rejected Him. He provides for us every single day, and I know I personally want to thank Him for His blessings and provisions. How about you?

Psalm 138:1 "I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the 'gods' I will sing Your praise."

Colossians 2:6-7 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."

Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

Hebrews 12:28 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe."

As Christians, we should be thankful not just on one holiday or during a season but everyday. I am challenging myself to use my 2016 planner to write out a weekly scripture to remind me to be thankful. The scriptures in today's lesson are a start. I need 52, and I don't think they will be too hard to find in His Word. And finally, I leave you with Biblegateway's verse of the day today (a confirmation to me that this is what we were to study today):

Ephesians 5:19-20 ". . . speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Art

Today I chose to do a Journaling Bible page using Colossians 2:6-7 because I absolutely love the phrase "overflowing with thankfulness." I want to remember to overflow daily with thankfulness to Him!

I used a piece of tissue paper that was in a box of shoes to add all of the flowers and words (except the stickers). I love doing that because there isn't any bleed through, and if you make a mistake, it's on the tissue paper not your Bible page.

Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. We also have some discussions that will be going on there too about the study. If you don't use Facebook and want to share your creation here, do so below by using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies and art tips, please see this post here. Blessings and may your week ahead overflow with thankfulness!

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Glory {Art} Scripture Challenge #17, Discouraged?

The Study

If you remember, I was unable to post the last Glory {Art} Challenge due to one of my daughter's taking her fourth ambulance ride this year to the ER. She ended up being in the hospital for 10 days this time. At one point they thought she needed heart surgery. Yes, this is the daughter that just had her 4th back surgery earlier this year. During this hospital stay, she was on complete bedrest, she was in tears, and she was discouraged. She wanted to go home, and so did I. She also wanted to go back to school. She is tired of hospitals and problems. Have you ever felt that way? Are you discouraged? Maybe you too have health problems or a family member does. Maybe you are having trouble paying the bills or you are discouraged in your job or lack of finding one. Maybe you are discouraged because you have tried to get the weight off over and over again, and it just doesn't happen. There are so many reasons we become discouraged.

If we focus on the problem, we will be discouraged. But God doesn't want us to be discouraged. He wants us to focus on Him and encourage us! In Exodus 5:22, we see that Moses took his doubt and discouragement to the Lord. 

Exodus 5:22 "Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Why, Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Is this why You sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all.'"

Moses did the right thing. He turned to God, and God responded with encouragement and tells Moses how He will rescue His people.

Exodus 6:1 "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of My mighty hand he will let them go; because of My mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.'"

God sees past our troubles. He has a bigger picture for us. God gave Moses encouragement and hope, and He gives us encouragement and hope also. He is the God of comfort in our troubles. Even when we are discouraged, we need to praise Him. He is faithful. His grace and love are abounding.

Deuteronomy 32:4 "He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He."

Psalm 86:15 "But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."

So what do you do for someone that is discouraged? Or what do you do for yourself? I will tell you what I did for my daughter. First, she denied everything I suggested to distract her. So I quietly sat next to her bedside, and I turned to His Word by reading scriptures aloud to her. She said nothing and had her back turned to me as she lay in the bed. Then I started playing her new favorite album by 7eventh Time Down. After listening to scriptures and this song, she began to weep which made me weep along with her. The scriptures and the music did us both good and brought us encouragement. One of the songs we listened to was "Unbelievable." You can listen to it by clicking here. Some of the words in the song are:

"Lord You could've given up 

And walked away 

From someone so unworthy 

But You stayed 

Your faithfulness surrounds me 

Your grace is all abounding 

Your mercy overwhelms me 

You call me Your own 

I know You'll never let go 

Your love’s unbelievable 

On and on it goes 

Your love’s unbelievable 

On and on it goes 

Your love’s unbelievable"

So when we are discouraged, read His word. There is a living, eternal, super-natural power in God's Word. God speaks encouragement and hope to His children through His word. Do you take your focus off of God when you are discouraged? I pray instead that in faith you would turn to Him in your discouragement and troubles. Let Him encourage you!

Romans 1:17 "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

"Fight back! Discouragement is a choice. If you feel discouraged, it's because you've chosen to feel that way. No one is forcing you to feel bad. Hang on! Do what's right in spite of your feelings. No feeling lasts forever."—Rick Warren

The Art
For today's Scripture Art Cards, I used Strathmore Artist Trading Cards. I use the Canvas Paper in the ATC size. No need to cut, gesso, or prepare these in any way; just start painting. They are even white on one side and off-white on the back so you can choose which side to use. I should have started using these from the beginning of the year but I guess now is better than later. The canvas texture is also nice. To purchase, see the supply list below.

For my cards today, I needed something quick as we have only been home from the hospital a week today. She didn't need heart surgery yet, praise God, but she was diagnosed with a new health condition unfortunately. Anyway, because I needed something quick, I used this video by Marta Lapkowska for inspiration. I like how these turned out but may do another full-sized art journal page using this same technique. It was fun.

Because the ATCs were so much smaller and moved around, I used adhesive to stick all four cards onto a sheet of newsprint paper. That way I could paint all four at once, and they did not move around. Sorry for the bad lighting. It was rainy and dark when I started these.

And here is how they turned out with scriptures and the quote from the study:

Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. We also have some discussions that will be going on there too about the study. If you don't use Facebook and want to share your creation here, do so below by using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies and art tips, please see this post here. And today instead of being discouraged, I pray you will be encouraged by this beautiful prayer.

Ephesians 3:14-21 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

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