Get Creative: Artist Interview

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I seriously can’t wait for you to meet my artist friend, Roben-Marie. I fell in love with Roben-Marie’s blog and art about two years ago. She has an interesting style that draws the eyes in and inspires me in my own art adventures. For our quest to GET CREATIVE I thought it would be fun to interview Roben- Marie and pick her creative brain on how we can make time for creativity in our own lives.

***Update**** Be sure to scroll all the way down for info on a very special giveaway of Robe-Marie’s artwork!

Meet Roben-Marie!

~Roben- Marie, can you tell us a bit about your creative journey? How you discovered your gift of making art? How does it connect you with God?

At a young age it became clear that I was interested in creative things.  My mom jokes that she isn’t sure where I got it but she was an excellent seamstress.   I remember making my own stuffed animals, jewelry, ornaments and gifts and I was especially drawn to paper and loved stationery, stickers and books and created my own simple journals.  My journey took me to a more “practical” career choice and I worked in public relations and marketing for some years before I decided that I really wanted to love my work and that is when chose to make art in some way full-time.  God has given me my talents and helped me to further develop them.  I am constantly reminded of His blessings when I am creating and sharing my gifts with others.

~Do you have any tips on how to make time to be creative?

I am a firm believer that we all make time for the things we truly love.  Making time for creative endeavors is no different than making time to exercise, study God’s word or making time for friends and family. But with anything, we need to make it a habit.  I get easily distracted and find that I have to really plan my day or things pull me away and I end up getting little done.  It isn’t hard to be creative on some level each day. It might not be realistic to knock out a completed painting in one day but putting one layer to canvas is possible.  If I can’t work in the studio for a full day, I can work on small projects like making handmade cards for my church family to encourage them or lift them up.

~Tell us about your new project you launched in January on your blog–The 1:2 Project.

Jude 1:2 reads: May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance! I believe we all have God given gifts and talents and through the years I have looked for opportunities to bless others with mine. Last year I made a decision to follow my heart and focus on my passion. This decision was made following a summer mission trip to Romania. While I can’t travel throughout the year in that capacity, I have found a way to encourage and bless the lives of others in a different way. The 1:2 Project merges my love of creating and my desire to reach and touch the lives of people I do not know. It is the simple concept of showing kindness “one to another.”

Each month I accept nominations from my blog readers. They tell me about someone they know who might need a little encouragement, a note to lift their spirits or a handmade piece of mail art that might bring them some joy. I randomly make selections each month and those individuals receive something from me. It is that simple!

Isn’t that some awesome advice? I really think it applies to any kind of creative tasks. Check out the collage below with some “eye candy” from Roben-Marie. LOVE IT! Also, be sure to check out Roben-Marie’s website where she has some awesome tutorials and videos. ALSO! If you ever want to learn how to make mixed media art like she does, Roben-Marie has some really great online classes on her website too. I’ve take an few and they have inspired me to no end.

 ***Update: Roben-Marie would like to giveaway a couple of packs of her artist cards to my readers.  Just leave a comment to be entered.  The drawing will close on February 20 at 5:00PM EST when I will randomly select two winners.

Seeing Hearts

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A friend of mine recently uploaded some awesome pictures that caught my attention on Instagram. She was seeing hearts everywhere. Literally little images of hearts. I was intrigued so I naturally investigated.

In light of our series on Creativity…

Meet my friend, Tori, a super cool, artsy type. Tori expresses her creativity in so many ways from how she decorates her house in a crafty-chic manner to the way she takes amazing pictures with her camera. Tori is a photographer and sees life through the perspective of a camera lens. When she started seeing hearts and posted the pics I first thought her sweet hubby was acting romantic. I asked her and she said, “No girl! It’s God loving on me!” Here is Tori’s account of seeing hearts and appreciating God’s unique way of expressing His love just to her.

When Our Eyes Are Open

Sometimes it’s in our loneliest moments, when we feel down-and-out, that God shows up the biggest. I had a dear friend come into my life like the wind, and God transferred their military family out of my life just as quickly. It sounds cheesy, but you know what kind of friend I mean: open, honest, real, loving, kind, generous, and in the same highs and lows of life that you are in. When she moved to the other side of the world, I was crushed! I was moping around like a lost puppy for weeks. One day as I sat on my couch having a pity-party, the most amazing thing happened. God showed his amazing love for me in a very practical, tangible way. It just so happened that the cushions on the couch I was sitting on were posed perfectly, and the sun happened to be at the right placement in the sky so as to cast a shadow thru the perfectly formed couch cushion creating a huge reflection on my TV screen in the shape of a heart. It took my breath away. It was as if God was saying, “Hey, I love you. I’ve got this.”

{pic of toenail heart!}

 

Wow. Of course you do, God.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’m back in pity-party mode. I’ve got my feet thrown up over the arm of a chair and I’m admiring the teal nail polish on my toenails when all of sudden I realize the most amazing thing: the polish on my toenail is chipped away in the form of a perfectly shaped heart.

Wow. How many reminders do I need before I get it?

Apparently several, because over the next six months God decided to show His love for me through this most practical way.  To this day, I find hearts plastered to rainy windows in the form of leaves, hand written on my sunroof in the morning dew, etched into my bathtub, in the form of water spills, as greasy finger stains in the dust that forms on my dresser, from bark that’s dragged in on my kid’s feet, all over the sidewalks in the path we take when walking into town, and everywhere in our church. Wow, God loves us.

{heart found at dinner!}

Not a day goes by where I don’t find a heart somewhere unexpected. But never when I’m looking for them. They show up in the mundane of our everyday routine.

{heart found in the cement!}

My kids find hearts now. I can’t think of anything better than my son seeing a heart somewhere and saying “Look mommy! That’s because God loves me!” That’s right buddy, he sure does.  And He loves to show you. And He loves to show off to you.

God is so loving. He’s so funny. And He’s so creative. Once we open our eyes to it, He shows up everywhere.  Ask Him to reveal himself to you today. And watch how He shows up!

 

Thank you, Tori for sharing your experience of seeing hearts with our ever so creative King, Jesus. Isn’t it so neat that as God blesses EACH one of us with the ability to be creative, He shows us HIS OWN creativity daily. It is our job to open our eyes to see it.

How will you look for God’s creative LOVE today?

Leave a comment…let’s chat!

Stubborn

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Raise your hand if you were ever a stubborn teenager who thought she knew more than her parents? Me! Me! Me! Now, raise your hand if you look back on those stubborn years and KNOW that your parents were actually very wise? Me!

 

                                                                               Source: Sarah on Pinterest

 

 

Whether or not you are a type A person with a strong personality {like me}, if we are honest with ourselves, most of us would have to admit to stubborn qualities. I think this is a universal truth. We often think we know it all. We often even try to prove we know it all. We often allow that stubborn quality to cloud our judgement as we take our own path away from God’s utmost wisdom.

God’s Word often smacks us in the face with the reality that we are, in fact, stubborn beings. In one particular passage, the Psalmist King David, warns us not to be like a horse or a mule. Mules are know for their stubborn qualities and need for reigning in. In this instance, we are warned to NOT be stubborn and drawn away by our own “wisdom.” I don’t like being referred to as a stubborn mule! At least I can be a cute stubborn mule?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you. {Psalm 32:8-9}

I’ve mentioned numerous times on this blog and in the pages of Stress Point the wondrous fact that the words of the Bible apply to every square inch of our life. We don’t have to rely on our own stubborn wisdom to forge our path in life. God promises His ultimate wisdom and guidance as He makes our paths straight. (See Proverbs 3: 5-6) But we have to choose daily to own up to the stubborn and bridle up to His guidance and wisdom.

I’m wondering though if anyone has every searched out the Bible and asked questions such as…

~Where does God teach me how to balance my checkbook and keep tabs on my bank account?

~What exactly does God say about my career path?

~How do I know if my boyfriend is “the one?”

 

Yes, the Bible doesn’t directly speak to issues such as our check book, finding prince charming or our dream jobs. It does, however, speak to the broader issues of the love of money, the role of a godly man and working for the Lord with all of our heart. This is where we, again, must release our stubborn and submit to the great power of all that God promises us in trusting Him:

 

~the promise of His word as TRUTH

 

~the promise that He hears our prayers and pleas

 

~the promise of the Counselor –– the HOLY SPIRIT –– God Himself living inside of each and every believer

When we couple diligent time searching God’s word, conversing with Him in prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit room in our life, trusting God becomes a natural occurrence.

The stubborn mule in us turns into a woman full of confidence and peace who knows that her God has only the best for her…if she chooses to trust and obey.

Psalm 32:10-11 goes on to say…

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

God loves us so dearly that He gifts us with His word and His Holy Spirit. I love the word “surrounds” in the verse above. God doesn’t just sprinkle us with His wisdom. He doesn’t just give us a handful of His love. No, He surrounds us, He floods us, He washes over us with His love. In order for us to benefit from this love so freely give, we must release ourselves from being stubborn. It is that stubbornness that causes us to miss out on the greater love and the greater plan God has for those who trust in Him with all their heart.

 

Let us not miss out because we are…

Stubborn.

Leave a comment…let’s chat!