Happiness

Here's an interesting scripture contrast - there's much to learn from pondering

Mosiah 2:41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

vs

Alma 41:10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

11 And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness.

Another dress

In addition to sewing baptism dresses for three granddaughters this year, I am collaborating with my daughter, Jennifer, to create a "luxe" line for her children's clothing company - Taylor Joelle Designs.

Here's the first one - a knot dress modeled by my granddaughter, Sylie.



Sylie is also wearing Taylor Joelle ruffle leggings

They are now available online at taylorjoelle.com!

Dress designing

My time is limited, but I love to make beautiful things.

This year, three precious granddaughters will be baptized. I decided to design and create a special dress for each one. The first will be for Taylor. She's a sweet, kind, beautiful, athletic girl. I'm so glad she was sent to our family!

Here's Taylor in her dress - all ready for her special day next week.

My girls

I painted these girls as part of a book project with a friend.

I kind of got to know them as friends - very silly.

I wanted to collect and save them in one place, because we gave the book away to someone very special.

The Lioness at the Gate

In the 2010 BYE Women's Conference, Sister Julie Beck described mothers as the 'lionesses at the gates' of our homes. I love this imagery!

A few weeks ago we had an experience at home that emphasized this idea. Here's the story:

Last summer we adopted a little make kitten and the grandkids named him Chewy.

About a month ago, Chewy started looking fat. First I thought through his diet and decided we weren't over feeding him. He's an outdoor cat and very active.

But he just kept getting bigger and bigger.

I then realized I had to think through the "he" part of Chewy. Could he be a she?

Time for embarrassment, because I used to be a zoo keeper and should know better than to accept someone else's word for this.

Quick check - Chewy is a 'she' and we have kittens coming. Oops!

A few weeks later Chewy presented us with three darling kittens. We marveled at her ability to know just what was needed to protect and care for her kittens. We had to coax her into a box in our laundry room - she was determined the kittens needed to live on the sofa on our deck.

When the kittens were about two weeks old, we left town for a few days and left our 26 year old son in charge. He came over every day to check on them and one day invited some friends to come see the kittens. They took the darling babies out of the box and spent a few minutes holding them.

Chewy did not like this! She made her wishes knows, so Jamie put the kitties back in the box and shut them in the laundry room. Later that night he want to check on them.

No kittens in the box!

Our laundry room isn't that big. Where could they be?

This is what he found:



Chewy is the lioness at the gate!

She had picked up each kitten, jumped from the floor up to the washer and carefully climbed in to settle her babies in a safe place - away from all those scary people.

Chewy knows what it means to be the lioness at the gate. She was NOT going to let anything hurt her babies.

I wonder if we are as vigilant. Our homes are so porous today. Scary messages and influences seep in through TV, internet, and music. Are we being careful enough?

Last week I gave a talk in BYU Women's Conference on inner beauty. I focused on some of the negative messages women and girls receive through the media about their self worth and beauty. It's a dangerous world out there! I'll try to put up a post soon about some of my thoughts.

For now - Chewy is my inspiration.

Unseen Wonders

A quote and scripture that, when considered together, are intriguing:

"Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world." Francis P Church

Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8:


There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;

We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

 

Mixed Media fun with kids

Lisa brought Dallin, Amanda, and Emily over to do some art.

We had fun!








The results!

"Smile" by Emily



"Sisters are different flowers from the same garden" by Amanda



"It is better to look up" by Dallin


"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a super hero" by Lisa



and my little valentines girl:

Making mixed media robots

Our identical twin 3 year old grandsons love monsters (Henry) and robots (James).

Mommy Lisa painted monster faces for Henry and James's new 'big boy' bedroom - but Grandma (me) was slow getting the robots done.

I finally got to it Saturday night.

Here's the process:

Decoupage patterned paper on each 8x10 inch canvas.



Paint over the paper  with acrylic paints (don't worry about wrinkles - it adds to the vintage junkyard feel). Be sure to paint the edges.



Draw or print basic robot shapes



Use patterns to cut shapes out of patterned paper



Embellish with paint, stamps, more paper, old hardware, and other ephemera. I like to use Gorilla glue or E-6000 for gluing hardware parts to canvas or wood.

I've used bits of hardware, parts from broken iPhones (talk to an iPhone repair person and beg or parts), and even legos on my robots.



Go nuts!



Here are a few more robots I've made