Serendipity Sunday

I just sent a pattern that isn’t due until May 1, 2017, BUT I have been sitting on the couch making the line drawing for a pattern that is due is 14 days, and well, I decided to stop to do a blog post~~YEP, that is how I roll…

It probably would be very scary to take a stroll through my brain.

Actually, it isn’t quite as scary as it sounds, for this was one of those ideas that was just meant to be…and flexibility is a true gift!

Charcoal is sitting as close to me as possible and he seems to be THINKING!!

Do you ever wonder where IDEAS start?  How sometimes, they come so easily, while others leave you starring at a blank page day after day after day with no inspiration.

That BIG WHITE BLANK PAGE…

Heavy sigh…

Life is like that sometimes, and if you learn to “roll with it, baby”, then you save yourself a whole lot of frustration!

This week has been very productive and I give thanks for that.

I got an order, so I cut, sanded and boxed 55 pieces of wood to head to California on Monday.

Charlie and Chester said the wood was PACKED and READY to ship!

Have I ever told you how much I dislike to sand?  ROFL

It is one of those necessary evils of life.  To have a beautifully smooth finish, you have to sand.  I am sure you have seen pieces at craft shows that SKIPPED that process and PROBABLY you had a mean thought…

Mother’s words of “anything worth doing, is worth doing well” come to my mind when I have to do one of these NECESSARY evils…she would most often say this to me when I was washing dishes.  Water would be all over me and the sink, and here she came with her “frustrated wisdom” and I can still envision myself standing there, water everywhere, and thinking, “I AM doing the best I can.”  For the life of me, to this day, I CANNOT wash dishes without getting ME wet.  I don’t know why, but it is just a fact I can’t seem to overcome.

Then, I hear Daddy saying, “Dreading is 99% of the battle.”…Boy, have I been having lots of those 99% moments as of late, and for the life of me, again, I can’t seem to overcome, BUT I still keep trying.  One day, that ole self-motivating pep talk will kick in and will conquer my fears (?)…or whatever it is…

This week, I also finished 2 more patterns and had them accepted, so that makes 3 that are heading to the 2017 www.paintingezine.com with 5 more accepted for the remainder of 2016!  I am so blessed and humbled.

This week, also presented me with the opportunity to be a guinea pig for an artist who just finished her first ecourse…She allowed me to paint it to give some feedback.  I was so excited, because I HOPE you know that I enjoy encouraging other artists, and I LOVE to learn new techniques.

You can find the ecourse at The Little Bluebird Art by Amanda Hilburn 

She also has a facebook page and an etsy page: Little Bluebird Art by Amanda Hilburn.

I love my little churches and what a fun, easy and quick design to paint for someone special!

Then I am bringing a serendipity moment from another week to this post, because it really did make me happy.

A fb friend, from South Africa, and now a US Citizen in California sent me pictures of how she used one of my patterns in her Bible School.  I was absolutely thrilled!  It was the first pattern she ever bought, which, in and of itself, is quite humbling, since she is a beautifully awesome artist!  She shared them with me and I am sharing them with you.

In today’s world, with all the evil that encompasses us, to still find people working so diligently to help TEACH our children Christian values, even thru art, gives me great hope.  To humbly think, that something I did, helped to spark an idea to share.  This encourages me.

I know, many of you think I am a fanatic, but I can honestly say, I don’t care and I WISH it were true…but when I draw something, I ask God’s guidance to steer me in the right direction…to guide my thoughts, my pencil, my brush, my words…to INSPIRE happiness and goodness and joy!  I ask that I can be used in some way with the gifts that I am willing, at the moment, to use for HIS GLORY…

I am trying to live my life, willing to be SANDED smoothly, to offer what I have to a world filled with hate, pettiness, selfishness, vanity, no self-control…

I am tired of sitting quietly by as others SLAM views that are different from theirs~~we ALL want to be tolerated, but show little tolerance for others…IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

To see unkind remarks breaks my heart!

To see unkind remarks by “Christians” makes my stomach ache!
To SAY unkind remarks makes me ashamed and saddens God!

We look at the sins of others, failing to see that WE are the sinners and that a sin is a sin. 

I am a sinner.

I have rough edges and I need sanding…did I tell you how much I dislike to SAND?!

Heavy sigh…

BUT I will continue to SAND my life so that God can be better pleased with my thoughts…my words…my actions…my heart…

Maybe ONE person will see my life and it will cause them to SEARCH the heart of God in ways to start SANDING their own life…

I am GRATEFUL for what I have and I continue to pray for needs that somehow, will be met, because He PROMISED that fear is not necessary and that ALL my needs will be met…I BELIEVE!

May you find moments of serendipity as you continue your journey of this roller-coaster ride called LIFE…~~I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡